Perseverance
by CrazilyInLove
Summary: I still remember the words of my ancient third grade teacher. "If your goal is truly worth it, you can find the will to persevere until achieve it." I knew my goal was worth everything. Then why it so difficult to find the will to persevere?
1. Prologue

**I have been a fan of Spirited Away ever since my cousin took me to watch it when it came out. I wasn't able to watch it for a while because I was busy, but my siser insisted we watch it a few weeks ago. After that, we've been watching nothing but Sprited away. So, naturally, I've decided that I should write a Spirited Away fanfic.**

**I have also decided to write a list of all my reviewers at the beginning of every chapter, so if you want to inspire me to update often and get your name on the list, please review! I don't think I will enjoy reading someone criticize me enough to make me cry, but I do enjoy honest reviews (even if they might not say that my story is the best, etc.). So don't hesitate to leave me reviews, no matter how long or short they may be!**

**Disclaimer: None of the characters or lines or settings that you will see in Sprited Away belong to me. However, if you try to steal my story, well, what I want to do if you do such a thing is too unpleasent to talk about.**

**

* * *

**

_Don't give up._

This overused phrase is every advisor's favorite thing to say. No matter what kind of situation you're in, no matter how hard and long you've struggled, they say, "Don't give up. Just hang in there."

This is how you know they don't know what they're talking about, or even understand what kind of trouble your mind is in. If they went through what you're going through, or if they even understood a little bit, they wouldn't be giving you such unhelpful "advice."

You start to distrust people who try to help you. No matter how many different people you turn to, none of them understands. If they don't even understand, how are they supposed to help?

It's reminds you of your parents when they are taking you somewhere. You ask, "Are we there yet?"

"Five more minutes," is your answer.

Five minutes later, you look out the window eagerly, only to see that you are nowhere near your destination.

Crestfallen, you try to tell yourself that nobody is perfect. Everyone deserves a second chance. You ask the same question, and you get the same answer.

And, five minutes later, you get the same reaction as you look out in the middle of nowhere. You try to see your destination, but it's too far away. You could test your parents again, but decide that being disappointed again will ruin any chance of you trusting your parents. So you don't try.

Maybe if someone who could say "five minutes" and be there by that time, came along, you would trust your parents again. Because you saw that not everyone is to be distrusted.

But no such person comes along. You never trust your parents again when they say, "Five more minutes."

This is not much of a problem. If you really wanted to know how long it takes to get somewhere, you could look it up on the Internet, after all. And as long as your parents can be trusted with bigger problems, you will trust them with most things.

But what if your parents continued to decieve you about different things? Your trust would probably be replaced by doubt and suspicion. If something your parents said were even the slightest bit unbelievable, you wouldn't be willing to listen.

Even if they were just trying to help you, you would think they had an ulterior motive. You would always be filled with skepticism and wariness.

Just as I am.

* * *

**What did you think?**


	2. Chapter 1

**Lots of thanks to my reviewers: _xXEmoPrincessInoXx, cynthiarox66, and jorbor_. I really enjoyed reading your reviews!**

**Disclaimer: Blah, blah, blah, I don't own, blah, blah, blah, yeah.**

* * *

"Chihiro! You're going to be late if you don't wake up right now!" My mother's shrill voice rang throughout the house, echoing off the walls.

My eyes opened slowly as if they were scared of what they would have to face. But open they did, gradually adjusting to the light from the sunlight penetrating my thin curtains. I had been awake since five in the morning when the nightly nightmare had finally released me from its grasps. It had done this reluctantly, however, which left me lying on my bed, the loneliness and pain I had felt during the nightmare keeping me wide awake.

I slipped out of bed cautiously—making sure not to step on any of the pencil-drawn sketches scattered around my room—to lift the lime green curtains restraining the rays of sunlight.

I walked around my room, jumping occasionally to avoid stepping on my sketches, to pack my emerald green backpack, stuffing it with my dark green pencil box, books, light green binder, and a sketchbook containing all of my latest drawings.

"I'm up!" I yelled to my mom as I shuffled to my adjoining bathroom, picking up my white-and-blue uniform from my closet on the way.

I walked around my green bathroom, gathering what I needed in order to take a shower. When I had everything, I took off my pajamas and stepped into the shower, my arms full of my cucumber scented body wash, shampoo, and conditioner whose bottles were also a light shade of green.

My sudden obsession with the color green had mystified my parents, who knew I had worn and owned nothing but purple until our move to the small blue house in the suburbs. They had thought that it was my way of rebelling against the move as I shoved everything purple I owned (translation= _everything_ I owned) into the garbage bags. They had watched with disapproving eyes as I bought new things to replace my old junk, not failing to notice that everything I bought was green.

They had told me one night, as I picked on my food during dinner, missing the onigiri Haku had made for me, that my sudden change worried them. When I had asked what they were talking about, they had gestured wordlessly to my outfit. Looking down, I had noticed that I was wearing a green headband, green shirt, green shorts, and green flats. I had met their raised eyebrows with a huff, sliding the purple hair band from my mahogany hair to shove it into their faces.

They didn't complain after that because I had my retort on resting on the crown of my head 24/7. Even on the rare occasions when I would have my hair down, my purple hair band would be on my wrist, protecting me from my parents' complaints.

My purple hair band was many things—it was my hair accessory, it was my protector, and it was also the only solid reminder of my journey to the Spirit World. A solid reminder was essential because even I sometimes wondered if my adventures at the Spirit World were just figments of my imagination. This was mostly the result of my parents taking me to the therapist a few days after they turned human again for "making up such an unbelievable story." Remembering how entrapped I had felt by the too-white walls of the doctor's office as I picked on the hem of my green shirt stopped me from talking about my "fantasies" ever again.

I closed my eyes, running my fingers through my hair in the small shower stall. It was practically nothing compared to the grandeur bathtubs in Yubaba's bathhouse. I let the water beat against my back, relaxing my stiff muscles as I remembered cleaning the "big, slimy, gross tub" Rin and I had been assigned to clean on my first day. I had pretended not to give a second thought to the grime on the porcelain walls of the bathtub as Rin and I cleaned it because I had been terrified that Yubaba would turn me into a soot ball or a piglet before I found my parents if I complained. In my head, however, I had been throwing up at the smell and the sight of the bathtub, thankful that I wasn't a spirit since their senses were usually keen that those of humans.

I was suddenly hit with such a painful stab of homesickness that I kneeled over in the shower, the water continuing to massage my back. Despite the hard work, I would give anything to be at the bathhouse right now, cleaning up after customers, getting teased for my human smell, greeting Stink Gods, and bawling as I ate Haku's enchanted-to-make-the-eater-cry-their-eyes-out onigiri.

I straightened up with tremendous effort and turned off the water, a determined look in my eyes. This is what kept me going every day. The stabbing ache of homesickness that never missed its target on my heart every time I thought of my friends. I supposed it was, in a way, like causing self-harm. (1) I'd heard that people did such things to make sure that they could still feel and to get away from the thoughts in their head even if the moment of freedom lasted only for a second. My situation was very similar to theirs, the only difference being that I didn't harm my body in a way that made external scars on my skin.

No, my scars were internal, on my feeble heart. Every ache of homesickness that I inflicted upon myself was sent directly to my heart, ripping open the tender scars, making them bleed again before they were fully healed. It had suffered so much damage in the last seven years that I wondered how it was able to keep beating, pumping life into my body.

I shook my head, trying desperately to clear my head, to run away from the thoughts and pain I suffered from every day though I knew I couldn't. I dried my body and hair with a towel, my eyes still closed. The towel was so soft and warm, like Haku's lush mane—

My eyes snapped open. The six miles I had been running for the last few weeks wasn't good enough anymore if I was thinking about the Spirit World this much. It usually kept the worst thoughts away for at least a day, but it had only been about twelve hours since my last run. I would run seven miles today—the more, the better.

I dressed quickly in the school uniform, which consisted of a simple white blouse with a light blue ribbon as a tie, a navy blue blazer with gold buttons, and a blue, white, and black checkered dress that reached the middle of my thigh. Some teachers thought the uniform was too inappropriate for a school uniform, but the principal was quite young, and she was unwilling to "make the youngsters wear something that would make them feel ashamed of their school." I let out an annoyed sigh, scratching my shoulder where the rough fabric of my blouse rubbed against it. I missed the salmon uniform of the bathhouse—it was easier to move around in and much softer. Since they insisted on the school colors—blue and white—couldn't they just make something like a blue-and-white version of the bathhouse uniform, such as what Haku—

My eyes widened. What was wrong with me? During the seven years of waiting for—for _him_, I had trained myself to avoid thoughts of the Spirit World just enough to numb the pain while still remembering it. Yet today, my training didn't seem to be helping.

Back in my room, I approached the calendar I had made myself last December, like I had been doing for the past five years. A gargantuan green dragon had wrapped its body around a grandiose bathhouse that looked as small as a child's toy compared to it. This dragon, like the dragons I had drawn for every other month of the year, had taken endless time and effort, but the results were promising. It was so detailed that you could see every single scale on its body, reflecting a source of light not shown in the picture. The dragon's mane shone, thick and soft as velvet, its claws and teeth were bare, showing how terrifying it could be, but its eyes contradicted whatever vicious-looking claws and teeth suggested.

The emerald green eyes were as clear as the ocean, staring straight through whoever was looking at it. They showed pride, dignity, compassion, and gentleness. They seemed to pierce through your soul, reading your darkest secrets, your deepest desires, and your brightest dreams.

Shaking myself out of my reverie, I produced a red marker from the mess on my desk and crossed out yesterday's date. The simple X imprinted itself on my heart as well as the calendar, right on top of the scar from yesterday's X. I bit my lips to hold back the tears as my eyes ran over the twenty X's on the month of October.

My reason for crossing out the dates wasn't normal. Most people crossed them out because they were counting down to a birthday, anniversary, holiday, vacation, and other special occasions.

I did it to use the pain to keep it going. Because every single blood red X grew a twin on my heart. It was kind of like the way I recalled just the right number of memories everyday to keep me awake and alive.

Still biting my lip hard enough to draw blood, I slung my backpack over my shoulder and ran down the stairs, a flashback of running—or more like falling—down the wooden stairs on my way to Kamaji crossing my mind. I smiled grimly at how sharp my memory was while my mom handed me a bowl of noodles and rice. She stared at me while I swallowed down my breakfast, a sad glint in her eyes. I looked down at my food, the hair falling out of my ponytail shielding my guilty eyes from her.

I felt bad for being such a useless daughter. Before the adventure in the Spirit World, I hadn't been the best student, but I had still kept them entertained with things like stories about my day. But after my adventure, I had started drifting away. They caught me daydreaming, looking longingly into the sky, sighing at the river that flowed in the town a few miles from our house, and crying as if someone had died, at random times. They asked, demanded, tried to coax out, and begged for an explanation for my odd behavior, but they hadn't accomplished their goal, and they had given up. My silence had gradually torn me and my parents apart over the last seven years. I couldn't remember the last time we had spoken about something pleasant—even the good grades I always got and the trophies I won for swimming, running, karate, and my other sports obsessions weren't interesting anymore. I often felt I didn't deserve to be called their daughter—I was more of a stranger living in their house.

I thanked my mom quietly, so quiet that I thought my mom wouldn't be able to hear, but she murmured, "You're welcome, honey," just as silently. I got up from the low, traditional table I had insisted on despite the fact that I had hated kneeling to reach my food before the move. My backpack over my shoulder, my socked feet padded noiselessly over the paneled floors to the door, where I pulled on my dark green sneakers. With a bow, I walked out the door and into the street leading me to school.

Because I usually left for school much earlier than I needed to, I was never late despite my sluggish pace and frequent stops. I usually walked slowly through the forest, stopping to pray to the little houses and the small fox nestled between them before getting on the road. My wishes were always the same: Please let Haku come today. Quite obviously, my wishes had never come true, no matter how hard I prayed. Today, however, I had a new tactic that was so painfully obvious that I wondered how I hadn't thought of it seven years ago.

I clutched the packet of sweet senbei **(A/N: Senbei are Japanese rice crackers.)** that I had baked with care yesterday under my mother's worried gaze. She worried about everything I did these days, always thinking I had a reason behind what I was doing that I wouldn't tell her, so I hadn't let it bother me. I had burned my hand while using the oven, but I hadn't let my mom take over the baking. It was essential that I bake the senbei myself. Otherwise, the offering would do no good.

The little houses and the fox were slowly breaking down from age, despite how much time I had spent to clean them and keep them from crumbling. I had been told by the friends I had made when I had first moved here that they had been built when their great-grandparents were mere babies. I didn't really talk to those friends anymore—I had stopped talking to them a few years after the move.

I had been suffocating under the "help" and "advice" my friends had tried to give me, so I had just cut off all ties—a clean break. This was the reason why I had no friends at school—or anywhere else, for that matter—but it didn't bother me. I preferred to suffer alone. I didn't want anyone to suffer along with me and make the pain worse by giving me false hope and encouragement.

_Then why are you still holding onto the Spirit World? Wouldn't it be easier if you stopped believing? It shouldn't be too hard to accomplish_, a voice in my head suggested.

The suggestion sounded so peaceful and wonderful. Letting go of the Spirit World and its inhabitants would mean I could regain my friends and parents. I would finally be free from the pain. But it would also mean a part of me—the part that had treasured the memories of the Spirit World for seven years—would be empty. I would live obliviously, but oblivion didn't always bring true happiness. It would be like shielding a child from a war—it would keep them from the pain and terror of war, but it would leave them bare and vulnerable when and if they ever had to experience it themselves.

What if Haku really came to see me, and I couldn't remember? How much would it hurt him? Of course, it might not bother him at all, if he didn't care, but what if he did? It would put him through the pain I had been going through for the past seven years. I couldn't do that to him. And what if the memories I had been repressing suddenly sprang up when I saw him? It would hurt me to remember so suddenly that he had kept me waiting for who knows how long, leaving me to deal with the pain.

This is why I couldn't forget. This is what kept me going, not the silly, useless help my friends had given me. Of course, I didn't blame them for not understanding—I didn't expect them to understand without going through what I was going through.

Taking a deep breath as if I was getting ready for a karate competition, I pulled out a few senbei from the bag, placing some in each house and some in front of the fox. When the packet was empty, I folded it up and put it in my bag. After staring at the houses for a while, I gathered my hands together, bowing to them.

_Please_, I begged, _please let today be the day when Haku comes to see me. I know the offering is small and it may not be as good as what you used to get when the townspeople cared less about money and more about spirits and nature, but it was made with care. Please, let today be the day when my wish finally comes true_.

I repeated my wish a few more times to make sure the spirits understood how desperate I was. There was a very high chance that they already knew just how desperate I was—seeing that I had come here every day for the last seven years, rain or shine—but one could never be too sure.

After repeating my wish for the third time, I straightened up and opened my eyes. I started when I saw the houses. Was it just me, or did they look a bit—newer? And I swore I saw the eyes of the fox glint and the corners of its lips pull up into a smile. I shook my head. Maybe I was going crazy.

_Or maybe the fox spirit will finally grant your wish_, whispered the voice that had previously spoken to me.

Didn't you tell me before that I should stop believing? Pick a side, I thought.

_Oh, just zip it, missy. I know you want to believe me_, it taunted, cackling when I admitted in my head that a large part of me wished it was right.

I shook my head. I was having a conversation with a voice in my head, which was not the sanest thing to be doing. Glancing at my watch, I realized that I would be late to school if I didn't get a move on. After one last bow at the houses and the fox, I picked up my backpack from the floor. Dusting it off, I started walking towards school—just another distraction from my suffering. (2)

(3) The school bell rang just as I took my seat in my homeroom. My homeroom teacher strolled in to take role, tell us the morning announcements, and bore us with the rest of her obligations. I sat in the seat next to the window, drawing in my sketchbook while the girls in front of me gossiped about the "hottest guy in school."

Examining my work, I realized the dragon I had been working on for the past five days was only halfway complete. To anyone other than me, this sketch would seem flawless. To me, who had really seen a dragon, flown on one, and had been drawing them for seven years, it was nowhere near finished. The eyes were too dull, the scales were too glossy, the mane was too rough, and the teeth weren't strong enough.

Making sure that the teacher was still droning on, oblivious to the fact that her students were either falling asleep, making paper planes, whispering amongst each other, or—in my case—drawing, I pulled out one of my ten sharpened pencils and started fixing the dragon's scales.

A folded up piece of paper landed on my desk. I looked up, and saw Ryuuzaki, our class jokester/"cool" kid that girls were always drooling after, staring at the teacher a little too eagerly. I sighed as I opened the piece of paper, not bothering to destroy it. I knew he wouldn't give up until the message got to me.

_Nice dragon_.

I turned to the back of the paper wordlessly, without a single change in my expression. There, I saw what I expected.

_How did I know you're drawing a dragon? Because that's all you ever do. I don't get why you're so obsessed with them._

I sighed, picking up my mechanical pencil.

_Thanks. And why should I care if you don't get it?_

_No one does_, I wanted to add, but it sounded much too serious for a note I was passing to the jokester of the class. I folded the piece of paper back up and tossed it over to the smiling black-haired boy sitting four rows away from me. He pretended not to notice it, but once I pretended to look away, he opened it curiously. His face dropped, something that happened everyday, but I didn't see why he would feel disappointed with my reply—unless he was waiting for a more vicious reply.

The smile was plastered back on his face, but I could see disappointment clear in his eyes. His eyebrows knit together, and he nodded at Toshiro, his best friend who sat in front of him. He scribbled something on the piece of paper, but the bell rang before he could toss it to me, and the homeroom teacher exited. Before chaos could break loose, our strict math teacher entered.

I put away my sketchbook the moment the teacher cleared her throat. Studying was something that got my mind off the Spirit World when I needed the escape—which was almost all the time. Therefore, I always paid strict attention during class, not letting anything cloud my concentration. This included my sketches, which meant that I couldn't touch any of my supplies during class even if I suddenly saw something outside that gave me an idea for an amazing drawing. It was a rule I had established for myself.

Glancing at Ryuuzaki, I saw that he was shaking his head at himself, a frown on his face. Toshiro turned to glance at his friend sadly and then turned to me. I quickly looked away, getting out my notes at focusing on the teacher.

The rest of my morning classes passed like the first, the only difference being the absence of a note from Ryuuzaki. When the lunch bell rang, I fished my lunch box out of my backpack, staring out the window absentmindedly. I was glad I sat near the window—it partially shielded me from the hell that had broken loose on my right side.

As I examined my dragon again, I heard Ryuuzaki call my name from the front of the room. I sighed, not bothering to look up, and felt the room around me. The air whizzed behind me and I expertly grabbed the object—a water bottle, from the feel of it—with my right hand. I chucked it at the direction from which I had heard Ryuuzaki's voice, and my mouth pulled up at the ends when I heard him groan, "Ouch."

I could feel the gazes of my classmates burning holes on my back, but I didn't look up. I was glad that "the gazes were burning holes on my back" was only an expression because had it been true, I would be a block of human holey cheese by now. This had been happening every single day of the past seven years, and I had grown used to it. Ryuuzaki would call my name and one of his henchmen would chuck something at me. I had gotten hit by whatever it was they decided to throw quite a few times before I learned to use my senses to help me. I had become quite an expert at this as my senses became keener. Though they saw this performance everyday, my classmates were always creeped out by how I always hit Ryuuzaki squarely on the head.

A girl walked in with her arm around some "hot" guy, and her friends squealed. This broke the uncomfortable and awkward silence that had been hanging in the air, and chaos broke out again. I didn't look up when someone came to stand next to me.

When the person covered my sketch with a hand, however, I looked up to glare at them. I looked back down and tore the hand away from my drawing when I saw that it was only Ryuuzaki towering over me, a stupid grin on his face. The girls in front of me giggled, trying to get his attention, but Ryuuzaki didn't look at them. His eyes were on me, burning a hole in the back of my head.

"What do you want, Ryuuzaki?" I growled when he didn't leave. I didn't like drawing with someone watching me. It put pressure on me instead of helping me get rid of the stress.

He pulled back the chair next to me and rested his head on his hands, staring at me. "Didn't I ask you to call me Ryuu?"

With a sigh, I looked up. "Fine, _Ryuu_, what do you want from me?"

His smile widened, showing all of his snow-white teeth. His chocolate brown eyes shone as he ran a hand through his messy black hair. "I just wanted to come talk to you. You seem a bit lonely, sitting all alone here with your sketchbook."

I blinked. Why was he being so nice? As I wracked my brain for a reason why he would be doing anything other than teasing me, I saw Toshiro give him a thumbs up. I frowned. What the heck was going on?

"Look, Chihiro," Ryuu started, "I know that I've been a huge jerk to you since the moment you set foot on this school, but I did that for a reason."

I rubbed my temples with a sigh. "Ryuu, I'm really exhausted right now. Can you please either tell me what you came here to say, or go away?"

His brows knitted together. "Are you okay, Chihiro? You look a bit feverish." His warm, soft hand landed on my forehead, feeling the temperature. My body automatically stiffened.

He pulled away before I got over my shock and slapped him. "You're a bit warm. Do you need to go to the nurse?" he asked, concern coloring his tone.

I stared at him, confused. Was this really the boy who had been tormenting me for the past seven years? He was so caring and gentle right now. I snorted to myself mentally at that thought. Ryuuzaki, gentle? I might as well be thinking the world was square.

"Chihiro?" he prodded anxiously.

I scowled at him. "Ryuu, I'm a bit feverish. So what? It won't kill me, so stop worrying like some overprotective dad or something. Now, _why are you here_?"

He gulped. Glancing at Toshiro, he gulped again. "Don't freak out, okay?" Seeing my cautious nod, he continued quickly, "I've liked you since the day you transferred here, Chihiro. You're beautiful, kind, mysterious, talented, smart, and nothing like any of the other girls I've seen. You're independent, you can kick anyone's ass at everything, and you're so strong—mentally and physically."

With wide eyes, I stared at him wordlessly until he started fidgeting under my gaze. "But—but why would you be so mean to me if you liked me?" I stuttered, not over the shock yet.

He grinned sheepishly. "Ten-year-old boys can't express their feelings properly. They tease the girls they like. And when I started maturing, I was afraid that if I stopped teasing you on a daily basis, you would notice something. It was a bit cowardly, but I wasn't ready to tell you yet. I've been trying to tell you for a few months now, but I kept chickening out," he explained, not meeting my eyes. A blush colored his cheeks, and I found myself thinking it made him look cute.

My eyes widened again as I mentally slapped myself. What was I thinking? I couldn't like some ordinary human boy. I was a torn, destroyed, and tattered remnant of my former self who was waiting for her spirit friends to come rescue her from her own world. I couldn't fall for a human—ever.

"What are you saying? Are you asking me out?" I asked when I regained my voice.

He looked up, hopeful. "Y-yes."

I bit my lower lip. I couldn't deny the fact that he looked absolutely adorable right now, looking at me with those hopeful, chocolate brown eyes. Maybe it was because he had admitted that he had feelings for me, but I could suddenly remember what a good person Ryuu was—if you could look past his jokes and pranks. He never stepped out of line by harming someone too much—physically or mentally. He wasn't the best student, but he wasn't one of those gangsters that hung out around school, stealing money from little kids walking home and smoking. I had actually seen him help a crying girl find her mother a few years back. But I had "forgotten" about it because he had teased me about a drawing I had been working on for weeks in school that day.

Ryuu stood up, startling me. His lips were bearing a smile, but his eyes showed rejection and disappointment. "I'm sorry. Forget I said anything, and we can go back to hating each other's guts."

He turned to leave, but I reached out to grab his hand. He looked down at our intertwined hands with a surprised expression, and looked at me.

I took a deep breath and looked up. "It's not going to work out, Ryuu. I—I have a complicated past, trust issues, and some secrets no one in this world knows about but me," I spoke in a hushed tone, not wanting anyone else to hear me admit I had some serious problems.

Ryuu stared back at me without a smile—for once—understanding how utterly serious and honest I was being. I could tell that he was grateful that I had told him why and he didn't seem surprised. He nodded.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I sort of guessed as much. Again, don't take this the wrong way and kick my ass, because I know you can, but you aren't exactly the most normal girl in this school." Though I kept my neutral expression, his eyes showed panic as he raised his arms in surrender and added hastily, "But I like that about you. I don't want some boring, normal girl."

I smiled as genuinely as a broken person could. Still staring into his eyes—this was the longest eye contact I had ever kept with a person in years—I made a snap decision.

"I have no idea how this is going to work out, but I think we could give it a try," I heard myself say.

The smile that lit up his face made my heart twitch. It was finally feeling something other than pain and more pain, and it was surprised, but pleased. I blushed when he gave my hand a squeeze. Maybe I had been burying my feelings too much to keep the majority of the pain away. I actually liked Ryuu, something I had never realized before.

Ryu let go after one last squeeze as the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. I put away my sketchbook in a daze, wondering if I had imagined me getting asked out by Ryuu. But, glancing at Ryuu, I saw that he was still wearing that goofy smile, and I knew the crazy side of my brain—which dominated most of my brain—hadn't made this up.

When the final bell rang, I gathered up my things quickly, meaning to dash out the door like I usually did. However, I was blocked by a certain black-haired classmate with a fairly muscular chest. I looked up at his face, blushing.

Ryuu raised an eyebrow. "We haven't even been on our first date, and you're already checking out my muscles? Slow down there, Chihiro. I'm not sure if you're ready for me—" he flexed his muscles, winking at me, "—yet."

I blushed again, cursing myself for being unable to maintain my stoic and unemotional face. Why was I blushing so much today? I blamed Ryuu and his muscles as I glared up at him. I had never noticed how tall he was—I had to look up to glare at him even though I was five feet five inches tall.

"I am _not_ checking you out. Why would I be doing that? I don't know what I was thinking when I agreed to go out with you!" I snapped, but instantly regretted my words when I saw his face fall.

"Oh. I just—"

"No! I'm sorry," I apologized, feeling terrible. "I just haven't had many conversations lately, so my mouth is just babbling on about things I don't mean to say. I didn't mean that."

He smiled, relieved. "I've noticed. You usually never talk. But I like your voice."

"You've heard me talk before. When I'm answering questions during class—"

He shook his head. "No, I meant I've never heard you talk in the last five, six years about something other than what the Greeks did in 400 B.C. or something."

I put on my mask, the one I used to hide away my true self—facial expressions and all. I forced the red painted lips of the woman's face lift in a smile. "Well, anyway, when do you want to pick me up today?" I asked brightly.

He narrowed his eyes, seeing straight through my happy façade. I wasn't surprised—he had been in my class every single year since I had transferred to this school. "I'll pick you up at seven. Sound good?"

"Sure," I said as I dug around my backpack for a pen and a piece of paper. Because I couldn't find any paper, I settled for his hand. "My number and address," I explained as I scribbled on his hand.

"Thanks. So see you at seven?"

"Yep. Bye!" I waved, rushing out of the door.

I could see girls pointing at me in the hall. Though they tried to whisper, I could still hear a few words like "Ryuu," "date," and "freak." I masked what little emotions I felt from the gossip about me as I walked back home. Being the mute, athletic, freaky, mysterious, talented genius for the last five to six years had made me practically immune to gossip.

When I walked past the little houses and the fox, I saw that the food was gone. I frowned in confusion and looked around, but not even a crumb of the senbei I had spent hours on was left.

That's weird, I thought, looking around in vain for the senbei I had carefully baked and placed into the houses this morning. I felt angry at first at whatever animal must have taken the food, but I realized animals had to fend themselves and their family, and I couldn't be upset with them for doing their best to survive in their always-changing homes.

As I started walking home again, this time hearing the comforting noise of the leaves crunching under my feet, I saw the fox's eyes glint again. Shocked, I stared at the fox, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. I told myself that my eyes must be playing tricks on me, but I wasn't fully convinced.

I walked home, feeling a pair of eyes following me.

* * *

**(1) I don't cut myself. I did some research on the Internet.**

**(2) Just in case you were wondering why Chihiro is suddenly a half-dead creature . . . It's all due to longing for the Spirit World and its inhabitants. How did Chihiro become so attached to the Spirit World in such a short time? You'll find out later!**

**(3) And I'm not sure what Japanese schools are like, so I got the information from the Internet, too, but I didn't have time to do too much research. I made the school year the same as our (America's) school year (beginning in September and ending in June) unlike the real Japanese school year (beginning in April and ending in March) because it's easier for me to write that way.**

**(4) Please tell me what you thought!**


	3. Chapter 2

**I'm back! I'm so sorry I've been gone so long, but I have my reasons! **

**First of all, this chapter was pretty hard for me to write for some reason. I couldn't get anything right. I'm still not completely satisfied, but I couldn't bear to make you wait any longer.**

**Secondly, I had something important almost every weekend. First it was the ASB camping trip and the makeup work for the three days I missed. Then I went to Big Bear the next weekend. The weekend after that was Christmas and I had to go see my family where all the adolescents were fighting over the computer. Then my little sister just had to use my laptop for "something very important to her." (We had a long fight about that and my mom had to break it up for us.) I couldn't use my desktop computer because it wasn't turning on (the thing's pretty old).**

**Thirdly, I was trying to get the story mapped out so I wouldn't get stuck in the middle of the story.**

**Oh and here's all the kind readers who reviewed and made my day! I send my thanks to **

**Disclaimer: Everything except the plot of this story and Ryuu belong to our favorite director, Miyazaki-sama!**

* * *

A car pulled into the driveway, and I hurried to finish sharpening the fangs of the dragon I had been working on for the past week. Blowing the eraser crumbs away, my lips pulled up in a faint smile, something that happened most often when I was buried in my pictures.

On my way to grab the purse I had thrown onto my bed earlier, I came to an abrupt stop in front of my full-length mirror with an involuntary gasp, my eyes locked on the deep brown ones of my reflection.

She had long, luscious brunette hair that shone like bright stars on a dark midnight sky as it cascaded down her back in carefully ironed waves. Her large eyes had been outlined with a thin black line making them look less childish and more womanly, and lip gloss had been applied to make her lips shine as brightly as her hair. She wore a tank top of the lightest shade of green, a military green blazer with a huge bow on her right side, and black skinny jeans that contained a tint of green. On her neck was a long, narrow gold chain with a large fake emerald hanging from it. Emerald green earrings were dangling from her ears, and she held a pair of gorgeous, emerald green flat shoes with black and green jewels on the toes.

And, most importantly, she did not look like the quiet, plain, and boring girl I had been for the past several years. I wasn't sure if I was terrified by this change or if I liked it.

I ran down the stairs and walked past my parents, blowing them kisses with both of my hands. They both blinked in shock before smiling at me, relief showing in their eyes. I had a pretty good idea why they were so surprised.

Ryuu was waiting in his car, like I had asked him to. I hadn't wanted to get him introduced to my parents just yet because I was worried about them scaring him away and my dad trying to kill him, driven by his over-protectiveness. He had laughed at that, the phone distorting his guffaws, making them buzz. I had giggled along hesitantly and insincerely because I had been absolutely serious.

It had been very awkward telling my parents about my date because I hadn't shown any interest in anything normal over the last five years—around the time when I had started distrusting everyone and pushing them away. They had been so relieved that they even understood when I told them I didn't want to introduce him to them until I was sure we wouldn't fall out in a few weeks.

Ryuu's smile turned into shock when he saw me. I wrapped my arms around myself, feeling stupid. I shouldn't have dressed up. Now he probably thought I had been waiting for this for years or something equally embarrassing and desperate.

When he got out of the car and approached me, I frowned, wary of his next move. Ryuu pulled my arms away from my body and gave me a warm, reassuring smile. It was a very sweet gesture that revealed a side of Ryuu he didn't show off often enough—the kind, sweet one.

He opened the door for me, smirking as he bowed mockingly with exaggerated arm motions. I got in, rolling my eyes at the Ryuu I was more used to. My lips lifted in what could only be called a ghost of a smile, but he seemed content enough with it as he swaggered back to the driver side.

The car started with a soft purr of the engine, and Ryuu pulled the car out of the driveway in one smooth motion. I gaped at him, wondering how rich his family must be to be able to afford this car for their teenaged son. He met my stare with an arrogant smirk, running a hand over the rich interior of the car.

"This baby was my seventeenth birthday present. My parents are both doctors, and they love to spoil their only son," he drawled.

I wiped the shock and awe off my face. "Is this how you're going to be? Arrogant and bragging about everything your parents do for you? Because while I don't mind a bit of arrogance, too much of it will annoy the hell out of me."

His eyes widened, and the smirk was wiped off his face. I had surprised myself with the harshness in my voice, but I didn't take it back. Parents spoiling their children always reminded me too much of Yubaba and Bou.

"I'm sorry. I'm so used to having to be a jerk to you that I forgot I can drop the act now. It won't happen again." His apology startled me. I had never heard him apologize to anyone before. He was always acting so much like a total "bad boy" that seeing him apologize made me fidget.

The corners of my mouth lifted. "But _please _don't go all soft on me. I won't be able to see you as Ryuu if you're not at least a bit arrogant, haughty, and downright annoying."

He laughed, throwing his head back. I stared at him in envy, wishing I could laugh like that. The only emotion I could express with that much gusto was pain, which wasn't exactly something to brag about.

Ryuu stopped laughing when he realized I wasn't laughing along with him like a normal person would—only faking smile. He frowned, his brows knitting together.

"Chihiro, why don't you ever laugh? I rarely even see you smile for real, and I've known you for _years_!" he wondered in a hushed voice.

I ditched my best effort at imitating a smile. I wanted to tell him everything: _Well, Ryuu, I had this amazing adventure in the Spirit World—which really exists—when I was ten. I made friends I miss dearly everyday, and Haku, a friend that I grew especially fond of, promised we would see each other again. He hasn't come yet, and I've been inflicting pain on myself with memories of the Spirit World—which, by the way, is my true home—immersing myself in my studies and sports, staying away from other people, and other strange things to keep myself functioning. I can't stand other people because they just try to tell me not to give up and all that crap that I don't need. And, as a bonus, I think I really like Haku._

I could just imagine the expression on his face if I really told him that. He would probably lock me up in a hospital in no time. This is another reason my heart died every single day—no one would even believe me if I told them the real story behind my pain. I could twist up the story to make it seem more . . . _this_ word-ly, but that would only result in another round of, "Chihiro, you should never give up because your wish will come true if you believe."

I love Disney movies with all my heart, but I had learned first-hand years ago that this kind of "advice" really didn't help a person in real life. They worked much better in fairy tales where one decision of the writer could change the character's whole life.

I jumped when I realized Ryuu had been waving his hand in my face for a while, trying to get my attention. I shook my head, and snapped, "What?"

"I asked you a question, remember? Why don't you ever laugh or even smile?" His frown deepened as he looked at me. I hurried to mask my emotions before Ryuu caught anything too serious.

Luckily, Ryuu narrowed his eyes and pulled away without catching anything important. "I'm not going to get an answer." It was a statement, not a question.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not ready to talk about this." And I never will be, not with a human.

"Will you ever be ready?" Damn. What was with him and questions I really didn't want to answer?

"No," I replied honestly. Like he had earlier, he had apparently already guessed this answer because he didn't seem surprised at all. He only turned his attention to his driving, paying more attention to the road than he had before.

The silence was tense and deafening, much too similar to those my family often found ourselves in. I tried to change this by making small talk that would steer clear from our uncomfortable topics from before. I was dismayed by the curt answers he gave every time, ending the conversation—or monologue—with a single word or two.

I didn't continue my vain attempts to break the silence when Ryuu answered my last question with a simple shake of his head, not even bothering to give me a real answer. Instead of fighting for a lost cause, I decided to stare out the window mutely. Even I, probably the only girl in my school who lacked information on dating and boys, could tell this date was going down the drain. I sighed under my breath and closed my eyes, shielding them from the darkness outside.

I hadn't feared the dark as a child. Why people would associate darkness with horrors used to be incomprehensible to me. I used to enjoy sitting all alone in my bedroom at night, listening to the crickets chirping in harmony, watching the tranquil darkness with my curious eyes.

That had been years ago, though. Five, to be exact.

Every single day after my adventures at the Sprit World, I used to visit the majestic red building standing proudly amidst the ancient trees in the oldest part of the forest. Standing at the entrance of the tunnel, I would battle with the two Chihiros in my head—the angelic one who wanted to follow the promise she had made to Haku, and devilish one who wanted to forget about the promise and go see her friends. Needless to say, the second Chihiro was about to win over when I halted my visits.

That night, the nightmares started.

The nightmare would start as a normal dream, my imagination going wild. I would be transformed into, say, a ninja traveling with sobbing monkeys eating onigiri.

But as I ventured on my journey, my surroundings would suddenly be sucked into a haunting darkness very different from the calming darkness I enjoyed. I would still walk on, my legs carrying me further into the darkness. I would see a dimly glowing figure I would recognize as Haku's chained dragon form. As I approached, he would growl despite my assuring smile and slow movements. He would try to move away from me, staring in horror at something I couldn't see. Blood would pool around him as the chains dug into his flesh, distorting his proud features into one of a beast in agonizing pain.

There, my legs would stop no matter how hard I would try to move them. Haku would never answer to my desperate calls, not even glancing at me.

Once, I had been holding a sword in my hand because my imagination had turned me into a knight in shining armor. I had tried to pry my legs apart with it in my desperation, but it only resulted in drawing enough blood to form my own small pond of blood. Haku would pay me no mind, lost in his own pain as I screamed awake, my face buried in my pillow to muffle the scream.

I opened my eyes, trying to chase the dark thoughts away from my head. I had to deal with this nightmare every night—I didn't want to make it any worse by thinking about it any more than I needed to.

I jumped in my seat when I saw a ribbon of silver ahead of us, sliding into the dark. My eyes widened when I remembered where I had last seen that familiar ribbon of silver—in the Spirit World as Haku tried to fight off Zeniba's enchanted paper birds.

"Chihiro?" Ryuu's worried voice cut into my excited thoughts. I ignored him, searching the dark woods with my sharp eyes. Had the fox and house spirits finally answered to my calls?

"Chihiro!" A warm hand reached out to shake my arm. I growled lowly in frustration and turned to look at him.

"What?" I hissed.

Ryuu recoiled as if I had struck him. My eyes widened when I read the poorly masked hurt in his eyes. I sighed.

"I'm sorry—I didn't mean to snap at you. What was it?" I asked gently.

He looked back at the dirt road that was only illuminated by his headlights. "We're almost here."

I looked around. There were no restaurants—or anyone, for that matter—anywhere near us. The only things I could see were trees and darkness.

"Um—are you sure you didn't get lost? We're in the middle of nowhere."

"No, I know exactly where we are. I come here all the time to watch the stars. And I brought us some food, don't worry."

I shrugged. As long as he knew how to get us out, I didn't mind going to the heart of a forest for my first date. I didn't really care for romantic things, unlike all the girls in my school.

_But you _do_ mind the darkness_, a voice in my head taunted, a smirk clear in its voice.

I was about to tell the voice to shut up when the car came to a stop. I was turning to ask Ryuu where we were when I saw the building illuminated by Ryuu's headlights.

Colossal. Bits of red plaster missing from its walls. An aura of spiritual magic surrounding its form.

Forbidden by a promise.

I looked away, shutting my eyes as I attempted to shut out the memory of myself promising Haku not to look back. I had understood he meant I couldn't come back ever again unless I wanted Yubaba to turn me into a soot ball or a piglet, but I had also been sure that Haku would come to fetch me soon.

Only he hadn't. It was now painfully obvious that in his busy life, I, the insignificant little human girl, had been pushed to the back of his mind. Looking back at the past seven, Haku-less years, it was obvious that those thoughts of me were not going to resurface in his head anytime soon.

"Chihiro?" Ryuu's voice called me away from my distressing thoughts. I looked at him.

"Yes?" I choked out. I cursed myself for sounding so weak.

He was instantly worried again. "You're really pale. Did your fever get worse? Do you want me to take you home?

"No!" Seeing the confused frown on his face, I gave him a fake smile. "No. I really want to see why you've dragged me out here. Come on," I said, getting out of the car.

That was a lie. I already knew where we were, probably much better than he did. And I wasn't sure if I wanted to go—the two Chihiros in my head had picked up on where they had left off five years ago and were fighting viciously.

Ryuu got out and grabbed something from the trunk. He offered me a hand that I took shyly, a blush coloring my cheeks as he gave my hand a squeeze. I was suddenly grateful for the darkness.

After fumbling around what seemed to be a basket for a moment, Ryuu seemed to find what he needed and gave the object in his hand a click. It was a small flashlight. Smiling at me, his earlier stiffness and worry gone, he handed me one just like his.

He stopped at the entrance of the tunnel, giving me a chance to shine the flashlight at the tunnel and examine it. It hadn't changed much. Still dark, quiet, and eerie. I wondered if the same could be said for the world on the opposite side.

This curiosity encouraged the naughty Chihiro. With the final blow, the angelic Chihiro fell to the ground, unmoving. I no longer cared if Yubaba turned me into a soot ball or a piglet. I was sick of living like a zombie, stumbling through my life pointlessly. I was sick of all the pain the homesickness had inflicted on me. I was sick of waiting innocently for Haku to come fetch me like a little girl. I was sick of fighting what I wanted.

With that thought, I tugged him forward, dragging him along. I didn't look back to see what he thought about my sudden enthusiasm.

"Chihiro, have you been here before?" Ryuu asked me, the tunnel magnifying his voice.

"Yes." My answer was short, simple, and, most importantly, honest. I was sick of lying, too.

"When?"

I hesitated, slowing down my fast, angry strides. I wasn't going to lie anymore. I started dragging him forward again, forcing the answer past my clenched teeth. "When I was a little girl."

After a short period of hearing nothing but the echo of our footsteps, Ryuu spoke again. "We should stop. There's nothing but water beyond this point."

I shone the light at our feet, and realized we were at the end of the paneled floor. Ryuu gasped when he saw that there was no water, only grass ahead of us. I was mystified by the lack of water that kept humans stuck either in the red clock tower or the Spirit World, but I wasn't turning back now. Determinedly, I took a step forward.

I was confident for a moment until I realized the ground was slowly becoming wetter, as if water stored underground was rising up, sinking my feet into the dirt. Ryuu tried to tug me back to the safety of the clock tower, but I shook my head.

"Ryuu, I need to see someone that lives here. He made a promise to me and I will make sure he keeps it. You can go back, but please come up with an alibi for my parents. I don't want them to worry." I spoke in a rush, pulling my feet out of the dirt-becoming-mud, grateful for once that my flats were too small on me. My feet finally slid out of the mud, and I was about to let go of Ryuu's hand when he tightened his grip.

"No, I'm going with you. I feel a strange connection to this place that I can't understand. I can't talk to anyone about it, and every time I try to take someone here, something distracts me and leads me away from it. You're the first one I've been able to bring here, Chihiro. Besides, I promised your dad that I would protect you when I ran into him earlier today at the market," he spoke just as quickly as I jumped, desperately trying to keep my feet from sinking in the dirt.

"Fine, but I can't guarantee your safety. This place is pretty dangerous," I warned, pulling him forward. When he regained his balance, I led him forward.

We jumped and hopped up the hill, trying to keep our feet out of the mud. When we reached the stream, I saw that the water wasn't just trickling down—the amount of water flowing through it had multiplied, making the water rush down like a river during raining season.

**(1)** My heart sunk when I saw that the stream was at the brink of flooding. I was sure I could jump across the stones easily, but I didn't know if Ryuu was going to be able to without slipping and cracking his head open.

"Ryuu, we have to jump across the rocks, but they're going to be very slippery. Can you make it across without slipping?" I asked, letting go of his hand.

He nodded. I bit my lips worriedly, but had no time for arguing as the mud started pulling me down. I heaved myself up onto the closest rock and pulled Ryuu up behind me. Pulling off my shoes, I instructed him to do the same. He obliged without a word when he saw how frantic I was.

Grabbing the basket, I shoved my shoes and clutch in it. I motioned at him to do the same, and picked up the basket. I jumped onto the next rock and turned back him to help him get across. Surprisingly, he was able to get onto the rock by himself, though he was much slower.

"I can do it myself. Get yourself across first," Ryuu ordered. I hesitated, but obeyed his order when he growled dangerously, sounding a lot like the dragon Haku in my nightmares.

On the last rock, I turned back and saw that Ryuu was struggling to climb onto the rock behind me. He was slipping, his feet sinking into the water. With the water current this strong, I knew he wouldn't be able to heave himself up like he had before. I jumped back to the rock he was struggling to get on, and pulled him up, putting all my effort into it. I refused to let Ryuu die on my watch.

Once he was able to stand on the slick rock, he looked down at me, a clear "thank you" in his eyes, but I jumped to the next rock without a word. Water was starting to pool up on top of the grass and mud at a frightening rate, making me groan. I didn't want to make my muddy jeans even dirtier, but I didn't have a choice if I wanted to live.

Once Ryuu grasped the hand I had been reaching back towards him, I broke off into a distorted run that was a combination of running, skipping, hopping, and anything else that might get us across the plain as quickly as possible while our feet sunk into the mud. We had to stop a couple times when Ryuu, being less agile, stumbled into the mud, but we got to the top of the stairs before the water washed us away.

I turned to face the increasing water as we tried to catch our breaths. I couldn't see the glowing ferry that brought in the first-class customers, but I knew it was on its way. We had to get out of sight before they saw us, or the employees of the bathhouse working on the ferry might report us to Yubaba. I wanted to keep our presence in the Spirit World from Yubaba as long as possible.

As I imagined reuniting with my friends after seven years of agonizing waiting, an unpleasant memory shook me out of my blissful thoughts. Recalling the last time I had stood on the top of the stone steps, scared and orphaned (in a way), I remembered the horror of being able to see straight through my hands.

Looking down at my hands, I sighed in relief. My hands weren't see-through just yet, but I knew I had to eat some food from the Spirit World if I didn't want to evaporate into thin air. Haku wasn't going to swoop in to play the hero of the day this time—I was on my own.

Or maybe not, I thought as I turned to face Ryuu when I heard him moan behind me. I turned to him with an apologetic look on my face for forgetting about him.

I frowned when I saw him cradling his arm to his chest with a pained expression on his face. I rushed to his side, taking his arm from his chest, biting my lip in worry when he hissed in pain.

After some poking around, my suspicions that he had sprained his wrist on the rock that had almost brought him to his end were confirmed. Without a word, I gathered a few sturdy branches lying around and got rid of the leaves hanging onto them. Then, I ripped a long and wide piece of fabric from my tank top, exposing my midriff. After buttoning up my blazer, I turned back to look at my temporary patient, only to find him staring intently at me.

When he realized I was looking at him, Ryuu grew red and turned away. Feeling a bit warm on my cheeks myself, I reached or his arm, gently taking hold of it. I noticed his jaws clench and he looked away, but didn't make a sound.

With quick, steady hands, I formed a crude brace around his wrist. Admiring my handiwork, I noticed Ryuu shivering slightly. I frowned when I realized his cardigan had been stolen by the water, and he was only wearing a thin t-shirt.

I took off my blazer as soon as I realized this, wrapping it around his shoulders. It was designed to be a bit spacey, so it fit—although a bit tightly—on him. He looked up, opening his mouth to protest, but I silenced him with a look.

"I know it isn't manly to accept a jacket from a girl, but you're injured and soaked while I'm perfectly fine," I reasoned in a firm tone that left no room for further discussion. "Besides," I added, "it's my fault for dragging you out here anyway."

"You didn't drag me out here. You said I could turn back, but I _chose_ to follow you," he answered stubbornly, but didn't shake off the blazer, to my relief.

"Alright," I said, done checking his wrist. "Can you—get up?" I asked softly, loosing my steam as I watched him cradle his wrist again, keeping his eyes firmly shut. They fluttered open at my words.

"Of course I can! I'm not some wuss who would whine about walking because my wrist hurts," he huffed as he used his uninjured arm to push himself up. I hovered over him, ready to catch him should he fall. "Besides, I can't let you go alone. You're just a girl," he added, irking me enough to straighten up with narrowed eyes.

Unable to resist the temptation, I said casually, "Did you know that I've been training under the best masters in Japan in karate and kendo (**A.N. It's a sport that uses swords that started in Japan**) for the past seven years?"

I smirked as his eyes bugged out of his head, staring at me with an awed look in his eyes. I started to pull him up the stone stairs as he continued to burn a hole in the back of my head.

"Karate? _Kendo_?" he finally managed to say. My smirk widened as I nodded. I led us quickly to the bathhouse, using the route Haku had taken after giving me the mysterious berry that had stopped me from fading away into nothingness.

"Yep. I'm also on the swimming team and track team, but those are boring. My favorite is kendo. Knowing that one wrong move can give your opponent the chance to take you down is—exhilarating. Also, my great-great-great grandfather had a beautiful sword made to pass onto any of his descendents that could truly master kendo. I earned the thing a few weeks ago."

I smiled, picturing the ornate sword adorned with jade, emeralds, tiny rubies, and other priceless gems. I had finally been permitted to hold it after six years of hard work. And I had been an early bird. Most took more than a decade to completely master the art of swordsmanship, but my master had told me I was a natural—a prodigy. The same had been said by my karate master.

Ryuu was still staring at me. I decided against telling him exactly how many trophies and medals I had earned from my karate competitions. I was relieved I had decided to ask Ryuu to wait for me in his car, instead of coming inside to meet my parents. One look at the countless awards displayed in the numerous glass cases lining the halls would have scared him off. And the sword hanging proudly in the living room wouldn't have helped either.

When his gaze didn't lift for from me, even as we approached the noise of at least a hundred pigs, I turned to meet his gaze and slowed down our pace. I could feel Ryuu struggling to keep up, and I was grateful he had been able to make it this far without stopping.

But Ryuu didn't really look awed anymore. It seemed more like he was confused.

"What?" I hissed, growing warm under his gaze.

It took him a moment to answer. "I always knew you were stronger than you looked, but I never realized just how much," he admitted. I bit my lip. Was he regretting his decision to ask me out now that he knew the real me?

But then he smiled, a bit arrogant. "It sucks because it won't be as easy to woo you as I thought it'd be. I thought my display of swordsmanship would make you drop at my feet, but I guess that plan's out. If what you're telling me isn't a bluff, you might actually be better than me. But I'll have to test you, of course."

I was about to smack him on the head for being so arrogant and self-centered again when I heard the loud noise of wood crashing against wood. I looked around and saw that the doors to the pig pen were shut, the wooden planks locking us in. I tried to lift the wooden planks, but they seemed to be glued to the door handle.

Slightly panicked, I asked for Ryuu's help, but even with our strengths combined, the planks didn't budge. The same went for the door we had entered through.

Magic. There was no doubt about it. Someone had sealed the doors with magic.

As I tried the door again, knowing my efforts were fruitless, I gasped, tearing my hands away from the door. Ryu hurried to my side, worried in an instant, but I paid him no mind.

He gasped, too, as he stared at my hand. His eyes bulged out of his head again when he saw his hands were in the same condition.

My heart sunk as I realized we were stuck in the pig pen with no way to get to food to save ourselves. We were going to meet our end in here, trapped with no way out.

* * *

**(1) I know the creek is only about two or three rocks across in the movie, but the creek in my story has five rocks, hence increasing danger. Also, there's a plain after the stream in my story that wasn't there in the movie.**

**(2) Also, I realized that I had spelled Ryuu wrong. So I have now fixed every single "Ryu" in Chapters 1 and 2, but if you catch any I skipped, don't hesitate to let me know.**

**(3) Please review!**


	4. Chapter 3

**Sorry for the late update! I meant to update two weeks ago, but it was my birthday so my friends came over and took over my house. Then last week was a busy finals week. Right now, I have a history test to study for, but I felt so guilty about my late update that I couldn't concentrate on my studying. Stupid guilt :P**

**Here are the wonderful readers that reviewed on any of my chapters after my last update:**

**Disclaimer: Everything in this story, except Ryuu and some other OC characters you will be introduced to in the story (spoiler: one of them will make his appearance in the next chapter, I think), belong to our favorite director: Mr. Miyazaki.**

**

* * *

**

Ryuu spoke first, cautious and afraid, his usual bravado completely gone from his voice. Instead of smirking, his face held the gravest expression I had ever seen on his face, which was an extremely unsettling. "Chihiro? What the hell is going on?" His voice was slightly trembling, which only heightened my astonishment.

I wanted to ignore him and spend the last minutes of my life in silence, but it felt wrong seeing Ryuu without his over-confident attitude. I knew that if I passed on before explaining this situation to him, I would never be able to rest in peace.

I turned to face him, ready to explain, but Ryuu's attention was fixed elsewhere—his hands, to be exact.

The wall that had been holding back my guilt broke at his terrified expression, freeing my guilt. It was my fault Ryuu had to experience the icy, frigid feeling that washed through your body as it slowly disappeared. It was my fault he would not be able to see his family again. It was my fault he wouldn't know what it was like to graduate, fall in love, get married, and become a father.

Ryuu looked up when I went to stand in front of him. I needed to tell him what was happening before it was too late, no matter how disbelieving he might be. "Ryuu," I started, but my throat closed up. I paused, took a deep breath, and tried again. "Ryuu, you need to listen carefully. What I'm about to tell you isn't easy to believe, but you need to at least _try_ to believe me, okay?"

Ryuu nodded suspiciously at my patronizing, gentle tone. I didn't blame him. Even to me, it sounded like I was talking to a two-year-old. Besides, for the past seven years, we had always been on each others' nerves, him trying his best to annoy me, and me never failing to retaliate.

I took another deep breath, but found it unnecessary. I felt my need to breathe slowly disappear from my system. My body was gradually becoming one with the air.

I bit my lip. Our conditions must be far worse than when Haku had offered the exotic berry to me all those years ago. The memory of the two of us, crouched next to the red, chipped wall was suddenly clearer than it had ever been. Was this because my spirit was trying to remember pleasant memories as it readied itself to pass onto whatever world waited for us?

I shook my head free of the disturbing thoughts. I had a final mission: explaining as much as I could to Ryuu before our bodies evaporated. He deserved to know—he was only in this situation because he had wanted to protect me.

But how was I supposed to approach this without making it seem like I belonged in an asylum? I bit my lip as Ryuu stared at me expectantly, desperate for my assurance that he wasn't going crazy. I opened my mouth, closed it, wracked my brain for the best way to explain, found none, and opened my mouth again.

"There's no easy way to say this, so I'm not going to beat around the bush. We—we're in the Spirit World. That clock tower we passed is some passage between the Human and Spirit World, where gods, dragons, witches, and other magical creatures really exist. I'm sure one of them has sealed us in here with magic. And, if we don't eat something made by a spirit soon, our bodies will disappear because they don't belong in this world."

Ryuu stared at me, disbelief evident in his eyes. His stare was expectant, as if he expected me to yell, "Gotcha!" and burst out laughing. When I did neither, he started laughing weakly.

"C'mon, Chihiro, did you really expect me to fall for that? I may not be a straight-A student like you are, but I'm not dumb," he rolled his eyes.

I shook my head, tears starting to fall when I saw that parts of my body were starting to disappear. I had three holes on my hand, arm, and leg. I bit my lip, willing the tears to stop, and stared into Ryuu's eyes firmly. "No, I'm not joking. You've got to believe me. The last time I came here, my friend told me that your spirit will always roam around, never in peace, if you don't put your spirit at rest right now. Please, Ryuu, believe me."

He broke our eye contact and moved his eyes to his hands. His eyes widened when he saw the holes on his body. I reached over to let my hand hover over his, an apology in my eyes. He swallowed, and not breaking our eye contact this time, he nodded.

As soon as I saw his nod, I felt as if a heavy burden had been lifted from my shoulders. I smiled at him through the tears, squeezing his hand just enough so that my hand didn't pass through his. He smiled back and covered our loosely intertwined hands with his spare one.

I knew we were going to fade away from this world tonight, but I didn't mind as much as I should. I had no regrets at the moment. Of course, I felt terrible for leaving my parents who would never know what had happened to me, and I couldn't even describe how sad I was that Haku hadn't kept his promise. But I had broken my own promise and looked back, and that, in a way, justified his actions. My spirit was ready to leave both the Human and the Spirit World.

I looked around me. The only thing that bothered me right now was that we were going to make our journey to the next world from a dirty pig pen. I glanced around the filthy building, my eyes lingering on the locked door that had brought us to our ends.

My eyes widened when I saw that the wooden door was vibrating madly. I waved my incomplete hand in front of Ryuu's face, pointing my chin at the door when he looked up. He got up in a daze, standing in front of me as if he wanted to protect me from the possible danger. We approached the door warily.

When we were about five feet away from the door, I heard someone curse loudly on the other side. I cocked my head. I swore I knew that voice.

"Haku told me specifically to use this charm only during an emergency, but I guess I have no choice. This door shouldn't be locked at the busiest time of the night." My eyes widened. I _did_ know that voice. It belonged to Rin!

With a flash of blinding light, the door slid to the side to reveal someone I could draw with perfect accuracy. Rin stared at us, a frown on her pale face. She looked exactly like she had a seven years ago, except that she now wore a beautiful pink kimono sprinkled with cherry blossoms and some face paint.

For a moment, we just stared at each other. I could tell she was trying to remember where she had seen my wide, chocolate brown eyes before. Because we had little time before Ryuu and I had more holes than transparent skin covering our body, I decided to give her a hint.

Throwing my arms around Rin, but making sure not to tighten them around her to prevent them from passing right through her body, I screamed (in a very girly way), "Rin! It's me, Chihiro! I missed you so much!"

Rin, who had stiffened at my sudden display of affection, relaxed and let her hands hover over the faint outline of my body. "Sen! I missed you so much," Rin murmured in my ear, her voice abnormally gentle and soft.

A second later, I saw her hand search in the fold of her kimono and produce two small parcels wrapped in leaves. I pulled away and opened my mouth when she ordered me to, sounding more like the foreboding, bossy Rin I knew and loved. I swallowed the piece of rice cake she fed me (due to the transparency of my hands) with difficulty since my body wasn't functioning properly.

As soon as I swallowed the food, I felt a tingly feeling run down my spine and I shuddered. I grinned when I saw that my body was back to normal. Turning to Ryuu, I saw that Rin had fed him too—he was staring at his normal arms in wonder.

"Sen, you know I love you as my little sister, so don't take this the wrong way—" Rin hesitated and I nodded for her to go on, "—but why are you here?"

"I brought her here for a date, but it didn't exactly go as planned. And why are you calling Chihiro, Sen?" Ryuu answered for me.

Rin turned to my date, narrowing her eyes dangerously. "Because that was the only name she had the last time she was here. Old habits die hard. And who do you think you are, human?"

"Who are you calling me human? Aren't you—oh, you're a spirit, aren't you?" Ryuu crossed his arms.

"So what if I am?" Rin crossed her arms as well, standing up and leaving me kneeling on the ground. She wrinkled her nose. "Yuck, you stink! Sen didn't smell this bad when she first came here. And now," Rin sniffed the air, "she doesn't smell at all. I'm relieved. I don't know how I would survive with the combined stink of two humans." She grinned down at me, and I smiled. It felt amazing to have a natural smile on my face like this.

My smile widened until my lips started hurting when I realized, after seven long years of torturous waiting, I was finally home.

* * *

"Will you guys please give it a rest?" I begged as we made our way down the creaking wooden steps to Kamaji's boiler. I was sandwiched between Rin and Ryuu, clutching both their arms and repeating, 'Don't look down,' in my head. On top of this, my friends had been bickering over my head ever since Ryuu and I had become normal again and it was driving me insane.

"I would, but this stupid human won't shut up!" Rin shot a glare at Ryuu over my head.

"Stop calling me 'stupid human'! I have a name, you know!" Ryuu shot right back.

"'Ryuu,' is it? That's a really stupid name. I have a close friend who's a dragon and he's been driving me crazy ever since he arrived at this bathhouse demanding Yubaba to teach him magic fourteen years ago. It's even worse now that he owns half the bathhouse."

That stopped my trembling. "Ha—Haku owns half the bathhouse? How did he manage to do that?"

"You softened up Yubaba a lot the last time you came here. He left right after you did, came back five years later in the form of a grown man, having mastered magic under Zeniba, and asked Yubaba for half the bathhouse. I'm not sure how he did this because he refuses to tell me, but he was the co-owner of the bathhouse by the end of the week. I couldn't say deal is fair to Haku because Yubaba barely helps around the bathhouse anymore and still gets half of the money we make," Rin explained.

"Do you guys get paid now?" I inquired. The last time I had come here, I had been enraged to find out that none of the bathhouse workers got paid except in food, clothing, and shelter.

Rin nodded. "That was the first change Haku made as the co-owner of the bathhouse. He made sure that we get some pay every month, depending on how many customers we get. He also promoted all the hard workers and improved our living conditions."

I felt proud. Haku hadn't come to get me, but he had done many things to help the poor bathhouse workers.

"Who is this Haku?" Ryuu questioned suspiciously.

"Are you really that stupid? I just told Sen that he—"

Ryuu cut her off. "—he's the co-owner of this bathhouse," he said, jerking his chin at the enormous building next to us. "I heard that. But how do you know him, Chihiro?"

"I—" I trailed off. How much should I tell him? That I had fallen into Haku's river when I was three and he had saved me in his dragon form? That he had come here when his river was drained and I met him again at the age of ten? That he was one of my dearest friends? That I was pretty sure that I was in love with him?

Rin made my decision for me. Not looking at Ryuu, she muttered, "He saved her life when she fell into his river. They met again here when she was ten and he helped her get her parents back," Rin told him.

"I was talking to Chihiro, not you. And what do you mean by 'his river'? Is he super rich or something?"

"Yes, he's very rich now. The bathhouse has been doing very well these past seven years because this is where the famous Sen, the only human who stumbled into our world and managed to get back to her world, stayed. But when I said 'his river' I was talking about his domain. He's a river god—or he used to be. You humans drained his river to built a-part-ments or something," Rin snapped. Apparently, she wasn't enjoying answering Ryuu's questions.

"Uh, guys?" I said timidly as the pair continued to bicker. They turned to me, the fire still in their eyes. I raised an eyebrow. "We're here."

I laughed as their eyes widened when they realized that we were standing in front of a rusty metal door with peeling paint. Ryuu's attention snapped to my face at the sound of my laughter, and his expression only made me laugh harder, doubling over. He had looked like he was trying to decide whether he should laugh along, yell at me to stop, and ask me what in the world I was doing. The combination of all three on his face had been priceless.

When the laughter finally died away, Rin led us through the door, muttering about crazy humans. Ryuu opened his mouth probably to say something that would start another fight, but I stopped him with a look.

"Old man! There's someone here to see you!" Rin shouted.

"Eh? Rin, shouldn't you be at the docks? Yubaba won't be—" All eight of Kamaji's arms stilled when he saw me. "Sen?"

"Kamaji!" I ran to the spider spirit, kicking off my shoes and ignoring the muddy footprints I left on the wooden floor. I threw my arms around my startled friend. "I missed you, Kamaji," I whispered as I felt his arms wrap around me.

Kamaji pulled away to look at me. "Look at how much you've grown! You've become a beautiful young lady!"

I blushed. "Thank you."

"What the hell are these things?" Ryuu shouted. "Get off me, you stupid balls of ash!"

I turned to see that the adorable little soot balls who had given me so much trouble when I first saw them were surrounding Ryuu like a black puddle. I giggled when I saw that they were holding his shoes down so he couldn't escape.

At my giggle, Ryuu looked up in confusion. When he saw that the foreign sound was just my giggle, not something that was signaling the end of the world, his face took that weird expression from before. I doubled over in laughter, clutching my sides.

The soot balls, finally noticing me, left Ryuu to line up on the edge of the wooden paneling where I was sitting. I saw that my shoes were already gone. I pet a few of them, laughing when they tried to climb up onto my palm.

Rin, who had been watching us with an amused expression with her back against the wall, suddenly straightened up. After frantically patting her hair down with her hands, she straightened up her kimono and turned for the door.

"Where are you going?" I asked, suddenly afraid that she would leave me.

Rin turned to give me a smile. "Didn't I tell you? I was one of the hard workers that Haku promoted. I don't scrub bathtubs anymore. I greet the important customers that arrive on the ferry every night and make sure they know where to go. I need to leave now if I don't want to be late."

I exhaled, relieved. "Come back soon, okay? We have a lot to talk about."

Rin glanced at Ryuu and smiled mischievously at me. "I can see that." With that, Rin turned and walked into the dark.

"You, boy, what's your name?" Kamaji barked at Ryuu.

"Ryuuzaki. But just call me Ryuu," Ryuu answered, brushing off his pants.

"Get over here and let me take a look at that cast. What happened?"

Cautiously approaching the spider spirit, Ryuu held his hand out. "I just sprained in on our way here. No big deal."

Muttering something incoherent, Kamaji rummaged around his drawers and mixed the ingredients together into a paste. Gently taking off the makeshift cast, he pasted the green mixture onto Ryuu's wrist, and rewrapped my green tank top around it with a few sticks he retrieved from a drawer.

Ryuu had opened his mouth to thank him when, suddenly, a flood of herbal tags fell in front of Kamaji's seat. Kamaji cursed under his breath while he climbed onto his chair. As he inspected the tags, he visibly stiffened, his face paling.

Before I could ask him what was wrong, the old spider spirit barked at Ryuu to move aside. Using all of his arms Kamaji started to mix all different kinds of herbs together, shouting at the soot balls to start working again.

After a few minutes of wondering what in the world was going on, Kamaji spoke to me without turning around. "Sen, you need to take your boy and go see Haku. Yubaba is softer than she was before, but she might want to make you sign another contract to make the business grow even more. You need Haku to prevent this from ever happening. He's probably in his office, across Yubaba's. Can you get there without being seen?"

I was already nodding when my head processed that thought. I was going to see Haku again for the first time in seven years! After all those years of waiting and anticipating, I would be able to talk to him! My head was already making a list of questions I wanted to ask and things I wanted to tell him.

Then I _really_ processed that thought, freezing me to the spot. I was going to see Haku again—Haku, the boy I had loved for what felt like my whole life and also the boy who had promised to come get me and left me hanging. Was I really ready to see him? Did I really want to hear what had stopped him from visiting? Rin had told me that he had left right after I had. Why hadn't he come to see me right away?

"Chihiro? Stop daydreaming, and let's go," Ryuu said, pulling me out of my thoughts.

I nodded, trying to banish my thoughts, but failing miserably. My head filled with uncomfortable and unthinkable thoughts, I got up—or tried to get up.

"Sen! Get moving!" Kamaji barked.

"I'm trying!" And I was. I was trying so hard that I felt like all the blood in my body was being rushed to my head.

I started swaying from the effort I was putting into getting my legs to move. This reminded me of the last time this had happened. Haku had just given me the berry, turning me back to normal, but I had been unable to move my legs. For a moment, I had thought Haku had poisoned me, but my suspicion was proved to be false when he put a spell on me that helped me regain control of my legs.

"Chihiro!" Ryuu shouted as I continued to sway in place. He ran to my side and kneeled down, supporting my body. One arm wrapped around my shoulders while he placed the other hand on my thigh. Under normal conditions, I would have swatted his hand away and maybe used one of my self-defense moves to cause him indescribable pain, but this was no normal situation. Besides, he was too busy making sure I was okay to try anything.

"There's no point in trying to regain control of your legs. Your legs must be experiencing the after-effects of almost losing your body. Only a creature that was born with natural magic can help you right now," Kamaji said gravely, his hands never stopping even once during his explanation. "The only thing you can do right now is stay still while I do my work. You, boy, massage Sen's legs or they'll be very stiff when we get someone to take the spell off her."

Ryuu immediately got to work. He stayed away from my upper thighs after one violent warning, and I had to admit that his hands were helping the numbness fade away a little bit. I laughed when I saw that he was blushing, despite his bold comments about my looking at his chest earlier.

"Shut up already, Chihiro. You're not the one who has to massage the legs of a hot girl. I wish your legs would snap out of it already. Come on, come on, come _on!_"

When that last word left Ryuu's lips, my legs immediately straightened up. I stood up, shaking them out. Thanks to Ryuu's massaging, they weren't as stiff as they'd been the last time this happened. Pulling the surprised Ryuu onto his feet, I turned to Kamaji, who was still working, oblivious to what had just happened.

"Kamaji? We'll be going now!" I yelled over the loud noise of the boiler.

"Eh?" Kamaji turned to us, his hands never stopping. His jaw dropped slightly when he saw that I was standing up with a smile. "Ryuu, you didn't say anything at Sen's legs when you were massaging them, did you?"

"I might have muttered a thing or two . . ."

"Do you think you—" Kamaji was cut off by the clatter of at least a dozen herbal tags. He reached out to pat my head and Ryuu's. "Be careful. It wouldn't be very good if you were caught right now, at the busiest time of the day. Now go!"

"Thank you for everything! I'll come back to see you as soon as possible!" With that, I turned to Ryuu, grabbed the hand that wasn't bandaged, slid open the small door, and crawled though.

* * *

I straightened up, pulling Ryuu up behind me. He had had some trouble getting though the small door with his sprained hand, but he hadn't complained.

Making sure that his makeshift cast was nice and firm, I looked up towards the noise and racket of the bathhouse, smiling faintly. It would be a pain to get to the top floor of the bathhouse though that crowd without letting anyone notice us, but I was looking forward to the challenge. It was time to put my stealth to test.

"Damn, that's a lot of tubs," Ryuu commented as we ascended in the red elevator, which was—finally—empty, except Ryuu and me. We had been waiting in the corridor I knew was rarely used during these hours for almost half an hour before the elevator finally emptied.

I smiled at the memories that flooded in my mind at his comment. "Imagine scrubbing one of the largest ones until they're completely clean. That was my first job here. Rin helped me, of course."

"Rin? That annoying-as-hell spirit in the red kimono? I can't picture her helping anybody," Ryuu scoffed. Apparently, Rin hadn't left a very good first impression.

"She wasn't the nicest person to me either, at first, but she's one of the closest friends I have now. We became sisters in the few days I spent at this bathhouse," I said in Rin's defense. I stiffened when I realized we were nearing our destination. There didn't seem to be any spirits waiting to use the elevator, but we still had to be extremely careful until we got to the corridor I was planning to use to get to the elevator leading to Yubaba and Haku's floor.

"We're getting off. Stay right behind me," I ordered as I pulled on the lever, pulling the elevator to a stop.

Gripping Ryuu's hand, I pulled him towards me until he was pressed to my side. Checking for any small spirits I might have missed, we stepped out. Turning around, I reached into my pocket to pull out some roasted salamander legs that I had stolen while we waited for the elevator. After tossing it into the elevator to dull Ryuu's prominent human scent (according to Rin), I dragged Ryuu to the nearly deserted corridor as quickly as I could without running.

When I saw the elevator we had to get on to reach our final destination, I quickened our pace, almost jogging. I just had to get on that elevator and all of our problems would be solved. I was sure that Haku would do everything he could to protect me, just as he had done before.

In my rush to get to the elevator, I didn't even notice the corridor that intersected the one we were in until a spirit in the other corridor and I collided. The spirit reached out to steady me before I fell onto my butt on the floor.

"Thank you. We're in a hurry, so if you'll excuse us—"

"Wait!"

I closed my eyes, cursing in my head. I turned around to stare at the spirit to see that he was sniffing the air. His eyes snapped open to meet mine. The slight wrinkle of his nose told me that he could smell Ryuu's human scent.

We were done for.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed reading that! I was in a huge hurry when I was editing this, so I've probably left a bunch of mistakes. Feel free to tell me about any mistakes you catch.**

**P.S. In the next chapter, a new OC character will be introduced!**


	5. Chapter 4

**I apologize for my super-late update. I was going to update two weeks ago, but my dad went on a business trip with my laptop, where the 90% finished chapter was saved. I apologize again.**

**I have an essay due TOMORROW, and I think it will impact my grade quite a lot. I still need to come up with a catchy title and fix the introductory paragraph, so I've got to hurry!**

**Here are my amazing reviewers: My Guacamole, (An Unnamed Reviewer), PenguinPillowPetsAreAwesome, D Walka, and SharinganLover! Thanks for your support!**

**Here is the fourth chapter of Perseverance! (It's the fourth chapter, right? Sorry, I have so much homework on top of the essay to finish right now, and I'm kind of going crazy!)**

**Oh, one last thing: standard disclaimers go here -**** _ And the plot of this story belongs to ME!**

**Have fun reading!**

**

* * *

**

"Sen?"

I stared at the attractive spirit before us, clad in a green and white bathhouse uniform, my brows furrowing in concentration as I dug around in my head for any memories of him. But no matter how thoroughly I searched, I couldn't remember any spirit whose features resembled those of the dashing eighteen-year-old human with wavy black hair that partially concealed his dark brown eyes before me. I bit my lip, wondering why his eyes, widened in surprise, seemed so familiar, despite the unfamiliarity of pretty much every other feature of his body.

"Er . . . do I know you?"

"You don't remember me? Does this help?" Without warning, the man suddenly shrunk into an adorable mouse, although it was much thinner than the one I remembered. The mouse looked up at me, its dark brown eyes much too wise to belong in the body of a rodent.

"Bou?" I asked, a wide smile spreading across my face as I kneeled down and let him crawl onto my palm. The little mouse nodded vigorously, making me giggle. The pictures I had drawn of Bou had to be fixed—he was no longer the giant baby with the red bib I remembered.

The little mouse scurried off my palm and stood on his hind legs. Closing his eyes, he reverted back to his human-like form and flashed me a smile. "So you remember me now?"

I opened my arms, laughing like a person without a care in the world—something I was (unfortunately) not—when Bou scooped me up. He spun me around until we were both seeing a double of the hilarious mix of confusion, amusement, and surprise on Ryuu's face. A giggle broke through the hand covering my mouth, which only intensified his confusion and surprise.

"Hey, Sen?" I tore my eyes away from Ryuu's priceless facial expression to turn to Bou, whose brows were furrowed in confusion. "You know I missed you, so don't take this the wrong way . . . but what are you doing here?" Bou asked.

"Ryuu here and I were on a date, but it didn't exactly go as planned. We almost evaporated into thin air, Ryuu sprained his wrist, and now we need to get to Haku before your mom can try to make us sign a contract," I explained in one breath.

Bou frowned. "I wouldn't let her do that. But if you want to get to Master Haku's quarters, I can take you there. However, you can't go walking around in your human forms." Bou tapped my forehead with his forefinger, closing his eyes. I didn't feel any different, but Ryuu's horrified expression told me Bou had done something to my appearance.

"Here." Bou handed me a small mirror as he advanced on Ryuu, who backed away, glaring at the former giant baby.

"You are not doing anything like that to my face. Move!" This was followed by the crack of a fist hitting a wall. Judging by Ryuu's growl of frustration and pain, his attempt to punch Bou had been neatly avoided. "Get off me, you freak! I'm serious, man! Chihiro!"

The annoyed, and slightly rude, comment I was about to give Ryuu died on my lips when I finally glanced down at the mirror in my hand. With an appalled look in my eyes, I touched my face to make sure that the reflection on the mirror wasn't an illusion. I traced the two black dots on my forehead, my neatly-cut, straight black hair (which looked totally different from _my_ choppy, layered cut), round chin, and painted, full lips. I had somehow unknowingly changed into a turquoise kimono-ish bathhouse uniform, designed for the female workers who entertained the important and wealthy guests with their instruments and singing.

When I saw that Ryuu had been replaced by a spirit with a fat, round face complete with a mustache, pointy ears, and a mouth too wide to find attractive, I had to suppress a giggle, knowing that would only sour Ryuu's mood even more. It was queer how enjoying myself didn't give me the strong urge to pull my hair out, as it did when I was in the Human World.

Turning to Bou, I opened my mouth to politely ask him to revert us back to our original appearances because I wasn't used to this heavier, curvier, and more exposed body, but I pursed my lips at the last minute. Bou was busy talking to someone—one of the many frog workers in the bathhouse. The frog was listening to Bou respectfully, probably because Bou was the son of his boss, but he kept shooting Ryuu and me suspicious glances.

"Are you sure, Master Noboru? Your mother said she sensed something unusual outside," the frog questioned suspiciously, sniffing the air. His eyes widened. I cursed mentally. Why did Ryuu's scent have to be so strong?

Surprisingly, the frog didn't point accusingly at Ryuu and start yelling for other spirits. Instead, he turned to me, his eyes narrowing. "I smell a roasted salamander on you. So you're the one who snuck into the kitchen. Master Noboru, I must borrow this thief for a second." With that, the green frog grabbed hold of my uniform and hauled me out of hearing distance of the worried pair of spirits (or so they seemed) behind us.

The frog let go of my uniform and looked up at me, putting his tiny webbed hands on his hips. I bit my lip. Should I kick him and knock him out? Or would that just worsen the situation?

"Give me whatever you have left, and I will make sure you don't receive punishment for your thievery." I blinked in surprise. Then, sending prayers to the gods above for having mercy on us, I pulled out the one remaining roasted salamander leg and handed it to the eager frog, who snatched it out of my hand and went on his merry way, yelling, "You'd better not do that again!"

"Sen!"

Chihiro!"

The voices and vibrations of the footsteps of my worried companions made me uncomfortable. We might have run into even more trouble if we didn't turn it down a little bit. I spun around to face the boys, my hands on my widened hips.

"We need to be quiet, or we'll never get to Haku's office without getting caught. Let's go, and no bickering," I ordered, noting that I sounded remarkably like Rin. I could tell from the look the two boys shared that they silently agreed, but were too scared to tell me in case I decided to yell at them, Rin-style.

Fortunately, the three of us walked to the elevator leading to the topmost floor without any more interruptions or unnecessary bickering. While I kept my face blank, I was panicking inside. My earlier fears came rushing back to me. Why hadn't Haku come to visit me if he had mastered magic years ago? Had he forgotten me? Had he only used me as a tool to take back his name from Yubaba?

I shook my head. I ignored the questioning look Ryuu shot me, recalling the genuine happiness and relief I had seen in Haku's eyes when he had stopped my body from evaporating into thin air and the time when he had given me magical onigiri to cheer me up after seeing my parents in the pig pen. Haku wasn't the kind of person who would use a person just to get what he required.

"Sen? Are you okay?" Bou's hesitant question jolted me back to the present.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Getting a grip on myself, I plastered a smile on my face and asked, "So, how'd you grow so quickly? The last time I saw you, you were still a baby. A giant baby, but still a baby." I turned to see the sparkle of amusement in his eyes.

"Guess how old I was the last time you were here."

"One?"

"Not even close," Bou paused for dramatic effect, "I was eight thousand six hundred ninety-two years old."

I stopped dead in my tracks. If Bou looked like a baby at that age, exactly how old was Haku? And what did he look like now?

I swallowed with difficulty. "Then—then how old is Haku?"

"He's never told anyone. He might be younger than me, or older than my mother. It's hard to tell with spirits because they age physically at a rate that they want, and sometimes not at all for thousands of years, like me."

Nodding, I started walking again. "You look really handsome, by the way. Is that your magic's doing, or is it natural?"

Laughing, Bou answered, "It's natural. People expected me to look like Mother, but she says I took after my human father's looks."

"You have a human father?" I was astonished. If her precious baby's father was human, why did Yubaba turn every human that ate her irresistible food into pork?

Bou's face dropped. "Yes, but he left her when she told him that she was a witch and wanted to take him back to her world." Oh.

"Oh," I mumbled as we stepped into the elevator. To get my mind off the fact that I would be meeting Haku a few minutes, I scrambled for another question to ask one of the friends I had been yearning to see for the past seven years. "So what have you been doing for the past seven years?"

"I was mostly learning magic under Master Haku. He mastered magic under my aunt a year after you left, and he taught me. Mother wanted to teach me, but, to be honest, Master Haku is more gifted than her. Don't tell her I said that. I told her that learning under my beloved mother would be distracting," Bou pleaded.

I rolled my eyes at him. "Whatever."

The elevator gradually slowed and we stepped out. My breath caught in my throat when I saw something that hadn't been on this silent, foreboding floor the last time I was here.

Hesitantly, I approached the pitch-black double doors, adorned with clear crystals, emeralds, and jade. It wasn't gaudy like Yubaba''s unchanged, over-decorated doors on the opposite end of the hall with its knocker ready to frighten the next person who dared to approach. Instead, it drew my attention much like the way its master did. It was cold and welcoming. It was quiet and majestic. It was simple and elegant.

Nervously, I licked my lips, smiling in relief when I felt that they were back to their normal thickness. Looking down at myself, I saw that I was back to wearing my midriff-exposing tank top, jeans, and flats. "This reminds me, where's our picnic basket and my jacket?"

Ryuu stuck his hands into his pockets. "I think I left them in the pig pen. I'm sorry."

I shrugged. "It's okay." I turned to face the doors that would lead me to Haku. I shivered in anticipation . . . and maybe partly because of the cold air. Without taking my eyes off the door, I murmured, "If you guys don't mind, can I speak to Haku alone first? I have some private matters to discuss with him."

Having known Ryuu for the past seven years, I waited for his immediate and firm "NO," but it never came. However, I could hear quiet bickering behind me. Tearing my eyes from the door for one moment, I turned to the boys, my eyebrows rising at the sight that met my eyes. Bou was cheerfully waving at me with one hand while dragging Ryuu toward the elevator with the other. He mouthed, "Go on," and I nodded. Sending one last sorry look at Ryuu as he got pulled into the elevator, I turned back to the door.

Cautiously, I grabbed the disturbingly realistic, gold dragon that intertwined the cold, black knocker, being careful not to touch the sizeable emerald in its open mouth and knocked on the door three times. Pulling back my hand, I waited for something to happen. I could only hope that Haku's knocker wouldn't be as rude as Yubaba's.

Several seconds passed without anything extraordinary happening. As I reached over to knock a second time, the emerald that reminded me of Haku's eyes fell out of the dragon's mouth and flew up until it was almost a foot above the top of my head. With a crack, the emerald split into two clean hemispheres, releasing green fog. The fog cleared in a few short seconds, leaving behind a tall man. He bowed.

"I am Master Haku's servant, Ichiro. How can I be of assistance, my lady?"

This man was clearly a spirit. Though his face and extremely well sculpted body could easily pass for a human's (and a very exotically handsome one), his entire body was covered in . . . forest-green scales. Furthermore, the hands at his sides were not hands, but claws. I managed to tear my gaze away from his body to answer his question.

"I'm an old friend of Haku, and I wanted to pay him a visit," I answered, staring into his pitch-black eyes.

Ichiro paused, searching my eyes for something. Satisfied with what he found, he nodded once. "Please follow me." Ichiro pushed open the double doors to reveal an endless hallway covered in green and white and the occasional blue. I looked around, mesmerized, as we passed beautiful paintings of rivers and forests, solid gold ornaments, normal-sized, black doors adorned with just as many jewels and decorations as the first one I had seen, and chandeliers with diamonds and emeralds hanging from them.

Pausing for me to catch up, Ichiro opened one of the doors leading from the slightly curving hallway and led me into a sitting room fit for a king. There were two green velvet couches and a coffee table with a steaming teapot and a cup ready for me. I sat down on a couch, looking around me at the priceless paintings hanging on the wall. Pouring me a cup of tea, Ichiro bowed again.

"I shall go and inform my master that you wish to speak to him. Please wait here, my lady." With that, Ichiro released more odorless, thick, green fog. The only thing that remained when the fog cleared was the emerald marble, which flew back the way we came towards the main doors.

Unsurprised by this odd transition, I continued to admire my rich surroundings as I sipped my tea. When the thought of seeing Haku in a few minutes sunk in, my stomach gave a predicted, but still uncomfortable squeeze. Placing my ornate teacup on the table, I clutched my stomach and concentrated on my breathing. Inhale. Exhale.

_You can do this, Chihiro_, I repeated mentally in my head until my stomach didn't feel like it was doing jumping jacks in my body. One top of that, I was starting to get kind of chilly.

Unable to sit still with the anticipation bubbling inside me like an uncontrollable volcano about to explode, I stood up. I rubbed my arms, hoping to create enough friction to warm them up a little bit, closing my tired eyes. As I opened them, one of the many framed pictures caught my eye. Stumbling over the green velvet couches, I hurried over to the picture, my eyes never leaving it.

A heartbreakingly exquisite lady in her early twenties smiled at me, revealing a set of perfect, white teeth. I say "lady," instead of "woman" because her posture made me feel like she was my superior and I had to do her bidding. Her sky blue eyes, cherry red, full lips, high nose, prominent cheekbones, and straight, jet black hair reaching her ribs made her look as exotic as many other spirits in human form, but her appearance gave off a different feeling. Instead of feeling comfort from the fact that she looked like someone of my species, it made me even more uncomfortable than meeting the strangest looking spirits, like No Face after the greed of the bathhouse workers had affected him. Even in the painting, it was easy to pick out the insincerity of her smile and the deadly glare behind her soft, gentle eyes.

Who was this woman? And, more importantly, why did Haku have a picture of her? Her painting was the only painting of a person. On my way here, as I passed dozens of paintings, I had never seen any painting of a particular object, only sceneries. Was she a relative? Or—I gulped—the girl he was seeing?

Before I could torment myself any further with my hopefully wrong guesses, the gold dragon perched on the displayed vase next to me opened its mouth. By the time I returned to the couch with the teacup in my hand, Ichiro was back.

The comely dragon-man bowed at me. "Please follow me, Lady Chihiro. My master has agreed to see you."

I narrowed my eyes in suspicion and crossed my arms, ignoring the goose bumps on my arms. "How do you know my name?"

His expression didn't change. Nothing changed in his blank black eyes either. "My master has seen an image of your face through my memory, and identified you."

"Haku can read your mind?" I exclaimed, my suspicion forgotten.

"Yes."

"Oh," I mumbled. A thought entered my head. "Can he read everybody's minds?"

"Not everybody's. I, being his faithful servant, must open my mind to my master. Others are more guarded about their thoughts, subconsciously or not. However, he is able to read the minds of those who work at the bathhouse, are intoxicated, or have absolutely nothing to hide," he clarified patiently.

I nodded, making a mental note to never drink in Haku's presence. Fisting my hands, I told him, "Okay, I'm ready to see him now," and followed right behind him as he led the way out of the room through a back door that was concealed, blending in with the wall.

The back door led me to a larger room that seemed to serve the same purpose as the one we had been in just a moment ago. We left that room through a normal door and found ourselves in a different hall. This one was also slightly curving and seemingly endless, but it was curving the other way. We walked companionably in silence until the questions that had been popping up in my head constantly finally overflowed.

"So how long have you been working for Haku?"

Ichiro didn't turn around. "For about three years, my lady."

"How much longer do you plan to work for him?"

"I must spend ninety-seven more years in his service."

I noticed the stiffening of Ichiro's broad back as he said those words. And though I wanted to know the reason behind his sudden discomfort, I decided to ask him my other questions instead. "Is it that fun to work for Haku?" I joked. Wow, I had just attempted to joke for the first time in five years. Too bad I had a tough audience.

"I am not in his service by choice, my lady. Or perhaps I am. By a foolish choice I made almost a decade ago." His voice trailed off, and as I caught up to him, I could see that his blank eyes were occupied with emotions I was all too aware of: a mix of despair, loneliness, and heart wrenching melancholy.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you . . . uncomfortable." I looked down, fiddling with my hands. I was now dying to know what had caused Ichiro to take on that look that I saw every time I looked in the mirror, but I knew he didn't want to think about it, let alone talk about it with a stranger. I should know.

For another five minutes or so, we were able to walk side-by-side without chatting as Ichiro led me through different rooms and hallways. I didn't fail to notice the paintings of the unidentifiable lady that were hanging on the wall of every single room. I wanted to ask Ichiro who she was, but I was too scared to find out. My goose bumps were getting ridiculously prominent, but I ignored them and suppressed the sneezes that threatened to break the silence every five seconds. Finally, I decided it was impossible to hold in my questions any longer.

"How's Haku doing?" I questioned eagerly.

"He is doing fine. However, the bathhouse's business has grown gradually over the years, and as the true master of the bathhouse, he is as busy as the bathhouse."

"How busy is busy?" I asked, my vision slightly blurring at the edges. I blinked rapidly, relieved when it returned to normal.

"He often stays up all afternoon, buried in paperwork. Even though he, being a powerful spirit, does not require much sleep, not sleeping at all is not healthy. Lady Rin frequently visits him during her breaks to try to convince him to rest awhile, but she never succeeds."

I nodded, wondering why the hall seemed to be swaying a little. Was it one of the magical tricks that Haku's suite—or mansion—could perform?

I knew that wasn't the case when Ichiro caught me by my arm, his eyebrows furrowing. "Lady Chihiro? Are you feeling ill?"

Closing my eyes, I shook my head, cursing my body when the slight movements made my head spin. I had to be strong. I would persevere. I had done well and gotten this far, and I was not going to let seven years of waiting—persevering—go to waste.

Getting back onto my feet, I opened my eyes and looked directly into Ichiro's blank ones. "I'm well enough to see Haku. I'll rest after we talk. Let's go."

My questions were burning holes in my mind, demanding to be released. But, no matter how badly I wanted to ask the questions, I couldn't. My head was spinning, the goose bumps on my skin seemed to be fixed there forever, I was trembling despite my efforts to stay firm, and my vision was blurring every time I blinked.

I blinked once more. The floor was rising, getting closer to my face. I couldn't see anything clearly. _No!_ I shouted at myself. _Get a grip!_

But my head felt like a continuous merry-go-round that wouldn't slow down, only getting faster. I wanted to ask Ichiro what was up with this stupid suite. But I couldn't.

The darkness swallowed me whole.

* * *

**That was quite short. I'll try my best to make the next chapter longer!**

**What do you think of Ichiro so far? You'll see more of him as the story progresses.**

**Please review!**


	6. Chapter 5

**Please ****don't hate me!**

**I'm terribly sorry I've been gone for so long! I am bad at updating on time, but I think I've never left my readers hanging for this long. I am a horrible person, I know.**

**Why did I not update, if I knew perfectly well how terrible a person I was being by not updating, you ask? Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), I don't have a heart-wrenching, tear-jerking answer to that. Life has just been hectic for me these past several months. Because we knew that I will not have time to go on family vacations next year, my family went to a whole bunch of places (even to Canada!) over the summer, which kept me busy. Then, when school started, my teachers decided to test our endurance by giving us a bunch of homework, starting on the first day of school.**

**And when I finally finished the chapter on Friday, I had to go and cut my finger up, creating complete chaos for my dear family before I could edit and post the chapter. Please forgive me. Even if you can****'t, please at least accept this sincere apology I typed with a finger wrapped in bandages.**

**Now, here is a list of my faithful readers who kept reminding me to update. I'm sorry it took me so long to reply to your wonderful reviews with a new chapter, **_**AznLee, PenguinPillowPetsAreAwesome, A Star Named Hope, Siriusly Fanatic,**_**and**_**Miss Shannon Whitlock Volturi**_**.**

**One last thing: Sadly, Spirited Away and its characters don****'t belong to me. I just borrow them from the amazing Mr. Miyazaki to entertain my readers and myself. But don't forget that Ryuu and Ichiro do belong to me!**

* * *

I was floating.

A light gray mouse swam past me, a little fly resting on its head. Three puke-green grunting heads followed close behind them, sending the mouse and the fly worried looks as if they were their bodyguards. A frog waving the leg of a newt ran away, its webbed feet propelling it forward as a sweating male bathhouse worker chased it.

Truly relaxed for the first time in what felt like forever, I watched a female bathhouse worker who was giggling as she passed by, sending flirtatious smiles at the spirit following her. It was so bright, so peaceful, so heavenly . . .

I closed my eyes, allowing my lips to form a tentative smile. I had forgotten what it felt like to feel genuinely at peace. I had missed it.

But I should have known it was all too good to be true.

A dragon flew by, taking all of the warmth and peace with it. My bright, serine surroundings faded away, leaving only the darkness I was all too aware of. Defeated yet again by my own subconsciousness and knowing what was expected of me, I searched for the agonized dragon I knew would be waiting for me. I wandered aimlessly, aware of the two emerald green eyes watching me from somewhere within this endless darkness.

I stopped. I could see Haku, his chained body curled into a circle as he watched me intently with those distrusting eyes. I wanted to approach him, pet him, remove the chains that were drawing pools of blood from his body and pulling him down, nurse his wounds, and tell him I meant no harm. I desperately wanted to, but I couldn't. No matter how much strength I used, my legs remained stationary, glued to the ground. And while I tried to pry my feet off the ground, Haku's hostility faded away as the pain got the better of him.

"Haku!" I screamed, sobs wracking my body as I continued to struggle. "Haku!"

The great dragon writhing in pain before my eyes suddenly stopped his movements to look in my direction, something he had never done in my dreams before. Just as abruptly, the chains, wounds, and blood coating his luscious mane disappeared. Haku uncoiled, readying himself for flight.

"Wait!"

I froze, my mouth open. I searched the darkness, but I could see no one other than Haku and me. Then who had shouted out the exact word I had been about to?

I got my answer in the form of a lovely lady clad in a baby pink kimono. I squinted, trying to remember where I had seen those blue eyes, jet black hair, high nose, and cherry red lips before.

My eyes widened. It was the lady in the paintings!

I watched in apprehension as she giggled, climbing onto Haku. A second before Haku lifted off, the lady sent me a deadly glare, pinning me down with maliciousness in her eyes that didn't match her elegant, lady-like appearance.

"Haku! Don't go! Please!" I sobbed, collapsing to the ground.

"Chihiro!" I didn't look up. I was too sick and tired of these repeated nightmares. I knew that whatever happened, I would wake up screaming, covered a coat of sweat and tears.

"Damn it, Chihiro! Wake up!" Was that Ryuu?

Ryuu had been a great friend to me. Though he had irritated me everyday for the past seven years, I knew it had been his way of cheering me up and keeping the little spark of life in me alive. Now that I was in the Spirit World and Haku was within my reach, I didn't think I could bring myself to ever think of Ryuu as more than a friend, but I had an obligation to answer.

Saying farewell to the darkness I was all too eager to leave, I focused on wading out of the emptiness. I didn't know which way I was supposed to go, but now that Haku and the mysterious lady were gone, my legs were working normally, as if they had never let me down.

"Chihiro." Ryuu's relieved sigh and his warm brown eyes were the first things I was aware of when I regained consciousness. I sat up with difficulty, Ryuu's hands hovering over my body in case I fell back down.

"How long was I out?" My voice cracked from lack of use.

"Almost two days."

Though I was surprised that I had spent that much time floating in the light and being tormented in the dark, I didn't show it. Looking down, I saw that someone had changed me into a salmon-colored bathhouse uniform. My clothes were neatly folded on the bed stand on my right.

"Lady Chihiro, you should not be sitting up quite yet," Ichiro admonished, standing in the doorway with a silver tray in his hands. As he approached, I could see that the tray held a teapot, teacup, and a tiny onigiri.

I shrugged and watched as Ichiro set down the tray on the bed stand on my left. He deftly and gracefully poured the tea without spilling a drop and handed the cup to me. I took it graciously, blowing on it before taking a small sip. It wasn't burning, as I had expected it to be from the sight of the steam, and I chugged the whole cup as Ichiro and Ryuu watched. When I was done, Ichiro handed me the china plate with the onigiri, which I finished in exactly three minuscule bites. To my disappointment, it tasted normal. No sudden overwhelming of emotions. No sudden inability to control my emotions. Nothing special.

"Where's Haku?" was my first question when I finished eating. Ichiro stiffened slightly as he poured me a second cup of tea.

"He left two days ago with some chick," Ryuu answered. The pieces of my broken heart were shredded at those words.

Refusing to let my pain seep through my indifferent façade, I took a deep breath and asked, "That 'chick' he left with—did she have jet black hair, flawless skin, and blue eyes?"

"Yep."

My shredded heart became specks of dust. "I see."

I sipped my tea wordlessly, fully aware of the two sets of eyes that were watching my every move. "So . . . what have you been up to while I was out?" I asked emotionlessly. I refused to show them how much agony I was in.

"I've been wandering around the bathhouse with Noboru. You see this bruise here?" He rolled up his sleeve, revealing a small patch of purple on his arm. "It's from him. He kept hitting me right here every time I called him Bou! Is he always this violent?" Ryuu crossed his arms bitterly. "Anyway, I've seen enough of him and the Disciplinarian to last me a lifetime."

Realizing that he was trying to joke about the nickname he had given Rin, I smirked. "Where are you staying?"

"In the guestroom in _Noboru_'s floor. It's just below this one." Ryuu opened his mouth, but closed it without a word, looking troubled. Sighing, I told him to spit it out. Reluctantly, he mumbled, "What were you dreaming about?"

I closed my eyes, clenching my fists. I shook my head—I couldn't answer that. We remained silent until I asked, "Does Yubaba know we're here yet?"

"Who?" Before I could describe her oversized head, monstrous nose, and disturbingly huge mole, Ryuu snapped his fingers. "She's the mean old lady with the big head and the huge mole, right? Yeah, she knows we're here. _Noboru_ and I ran into her on our way to his room and she saw through the disguise right away. That reminds me, she wants to talk to you. She doesn't seem that bad—if you overlook the fact that she's not exactly the baking-cookies-for-children kind of lady."

Nodding, I pushed aside the silk blankets and stood up unsteadily, Ryuu catching me when I wobbled. I shook him off—unlike the Chihiro that Haku had known, I didn't accept help from others. I was no longer the helpless, dependent girl who couldn't even keep her parents from a suspicious, empty restaurant.

"Lady Chihiro, you must not push yourself. You are not fully recovered—Mistress Yubaba can wait." Ichiro blocked the doorway, his arm pushing me back.

"Let me go."

"I'm afraid I cannot, Lady Chihiro."

"Fine." I spun around, drooping my shoulders slightly to pretend like I was giving up. When I saw Ichiro's hold on the threshold loosen in my peripheral, I spun around, punched Ichiro's arm fast enough to make my arm almost blur, and slipped past him as he rubbed his arm in surprise. Knowing that my punch had been aimed for surprise, not harm, I felt no guilt as I ran further away from Ichiro's desperate calls.

My plan for escape was almost much perfect—except for the fact that I had no idea which way to go. Haku's suite was like a maze. Some rooms were dead ends, some rooms were concealing almost invisible doors, and the halls looked almost identical to each other. Being knocked out for two days had also led me to forget about Ichiro's special trick.

When I stopped to catch my breath, a gold dragon perched on a coffee table nearby opened its mouth. A moment later, Ichiro was standing in front of the door leading out of the room, his arms spread out to block it. I knew Ichiro was too smart to fall for the same trick again, and I was too disoriented and weak from my three-day faint to fight him anyway.

"Ichiro, I'm going to have to talk to her sooner or later, and I'm well enough now to see her. Why are you looking after me like you're my dad or something anyway?" I inquired, crossing my arms.

"Allowing a guest to faint within my reach was unforgivable. I shall not allow it to happen again."

"I'm not a weak little girl, Ichiro. That was the first time I've ever fainted—I promise not to let it happen again. Can I go now?" I rolled my eyes, feeling like a five-year-old asking her parents if she could go out and play in the playground.

Ichiro pondered my words. A moment later, he observed, "Am I correct in assuming that you are lost?"

"Maybe." I refused to admit defeat blatantly.

"How do you feel about making a compromise? If you take a bath and have a decent breakfast, I will guide you out. If not, feel free to roam aimlessly around the suite. However, I must warn you that this suite is much like a magical maze—some doors don't open, some have nothing behind them, some move around, and others simply disappear. I can guarantee that helping yourself out will not be an easy task."

I shook my head. "I can't say no to the breakfast because, to be honest, two days of no food has made me really hungry, but I am not taking a bath. I'll probably fall asleep. I don't mind taking a shower, though," I compromised.

"A shower?" Ichiro lifted the corners of his lips in a smile that didn't really touch his eyes. "I cannot allow you to have a simple shower when there are bathtubs available, Lady Chihiro. Have you forgotten that you are in the best bathhouse in both the Human and Spirit Worlds?"

"Come on, Ichiro. I really want to hear what Yubaba has to say, and I'm sure I won't find out for another three hours at least if I take a bath since I'll probably fall asleep! Please?" I implored, clasping my hands together.

Thankfully, Ichiro gave in, agreeing to let me just take a quick shower instead of the elaborate, sleep-inducing bath he had probably had in mind for me. Motioning for me to follow him, he led me through a few rooms to Haku's bedroom. I felt pathetic that my frantic roaming had barely gotten me away from my starting point.

I was surprised to find that Ryuu was nowhere to be found when I entered the room. I was about to ask Ichiro where the idiot had run off to when he opened a sliding paper door leading to a small bathroom with a shower half the size of my room in the Human World instead of a bathtub. He turned on the water, letting the water run. It heated up quickly, during which time Ichiro found soap, a toothbrush, a towel, and other bathroom essentials. He told me he would leave me a new uniform outside before transforming into a green marble.

An hour later, I was led out by Ichiro, clad in a new bathhouse uniform, smelling like sakura blossoms, and my stomach on the brink of bursting. After I got dressed, Ichiro had led me to another luxurious room with a long table set for one. But the food that he brought to the table was enough to feed five hungry teenage boys. Ichiro had somehow coaxed me into eating at least a third of the food.

Returning to the matter at hand, I tried to remember which turns we took and which doors we passed, but it was virtually impossible. Everything looked identical. I suspected that Ichiro usually cheated by using the countless other golden dragons to navigate his way out. Nonetheless, we were standing in front of the grandeur double doors in no more than three minutes. Opening the door, Ichiro watched me until I reached Yubaba's door before condensing into a sphere of emerald or jade.

When I reached for the door, the knocker came alive, glaring at me with its disturbingly realistic eyes. "Were you going to try to break in again without knocking, you insolent girl?" It snapped at me, its ugly face distorting as it spoke.

"No. Yubaba wishes to see me," I scoffed, scowling. No matter what I had told Ichiro, I wasn't feeling that great and I didn't need anything to worsen my condition.

The knocker cackled in an unpleasant way that made my hair stand on end. I sighed loudly and opened my mouth to tell the knocker off when Yubaba's scratchy voice eeriely echoed around us, as if Yubaba was standing at a hundred different places.

"Let the human in, you worthless piece of junk." I stifled a giggle as the knocker's already distorted face twisted in annoyance. Mumbling under its breath like a fool, the knocker relented, opening the double doors as I stepped forward.

Before my foot made contact with the floor, however, Yubaba pulled me forward, her invisible force grabbing onto the front of my uniform as I relaxed, allowing my feet to dangle a few inches off the ground, occasionally brushing against the richly carpeted floor.

I was led through a suite as colossal and maze-like as Haku's. The last time Yubaba had pulled me to her office, I had been terrified, aware of the fact that if I was not careful or Yubaba didn't approve of me, she's would turn me into piglet or a worthless piece of coal. However, now that Haku owned half the bathhouse, and could perform magic possibly even greater than Yubaba's, I knew she wouldn't dare to perform any harmful magic on me. Therefore, I was quite relaxed and enjoying the ride when the force holding onto my shirt suddenly loosened.

Unlike the last time this had happened, I knew what was going to happen. When I entered Yubaba's office, I tensed my body for the jump. Feeling the invisible force relax its grip on me a second before it let me drop face-down on the floor, I tore myself from its grip and spun around once in air, landing lightly on my feet. I looked up to see Yubaba at her desk, holding a raised teacup in her hand, her mouth open in surprise, as I nonchalantly swept my hair back.

I raised an eyebrow, causing the surliness to seep back into Yubaba's expression. Lowering her teacup, Yubaba studied me carefully, staring me down. I stared right back at her, refusing to let down my guard or display my discomfort.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the incredible Sen, the only human in the history of the world who managed to leave the Spirit World unscathed," she croaked, taking off her glasses. "Why have you come back?"

Crossing my arms, I replied, "It was an accident. I'm sorry, Yubaba."

"Apologies solve nothing, you insolent child! Have you forgotten my last words? I promised to turn you into a pig if you dared to return!"

"I haven't forgotten. But when I came back a few days ago, I learned that my escape from the Spirit World has increased the business here. If you turn me into a pig and serve me to your customers, do you think people will still think of this bathhouse as the home of a miracle? Won't it revert back to an ordinary bathhouse where wandering humans are turned into food?"

Yubaba remained silent, before bursting into laughter. I stared, dumbfounded, as her guffaws filled the room. When she calmed down, I asked, with as much dignity I could muster after being laughed at, "May I ask what's so funny?"

"You've grown up. Before, if I had threatened to turn you into a pig, you would have started screaming at me like the insolent child you used to be. But I see now that that isn't the case. Welcome back, Sen."

I stood, astonished, as Yubaba stood up and pulled on a rope next to her desk. A few moments later, a female servant walked in, clad in kimono, her chestnut brown hair held up with hair sticks. It took me a moment to realize that it was Rin.

"You called for me?" Rin asked, not looking at me.

"Look, Rin. Your beloved friend has returned," Yubaba gestured at me.

Rin turned to me. To my surprise, she looked down in remorse and whispered, "I led her and the other human man here. My apologies, Yubaba." As she whispered her apology, I saw Yubaba narrow her plate-sized eyes slightly.

Yubaba didn't say anything for a while. "You are dismissed," the old witch finally replied, snapping her fingers and sending Rin out the door. Yubaba stood up, organizing her fingers while staring at me. "Did you notice anything strange about Rin?"

"I'm sorry?"

Sending her papers out the door, Yubaba sat back down. Clasping her hands together, she turned her eyes back to me. "The Rin you remember, would she have admitted that she led you and the human back here and risked losing her job when she could have just pretended that she didn't know you were here? That wouldn't have hurt you in any way or put her job on the line."

I bit my lip, thinking seven years back. I remembered a similar situation happening before, but Rin had acted as if she didn't know me and was burdened by me. "You're right. Rin didn't act like this last time."

From the corner of my eyes, I saw Yubaba sigh. But when I turned to look at her, she was smirking. "So she was the person who led you to my office last time, wasn't she!"

"I never said that!" I shouted right back.

Yubaba chuckled, shaking her head. "You may stay here as long as you wish, but you must walk around the bathhouse during business hours to let everyone know that you have returned."

"To increase the business, no doubt?"

"You have to earn your keep somehow, girl!" Yubaba snapped, waving me away. "Now get out!"

As I walked out, worrying about what kind of danger I had put Rin's job into, Yubaba stopped me with a question. "Have you met Katsumi yet?"

I turned my head, frowning. "Who?"

"Never mind. You can ask that cursed servant of Haku's." A familiar invisible force pushed against my back painfully until I yielded. Yubaba waved goodbye, chuckling, as the door closed behind me. I crossed my arms, upset that I had been rushed out before I could get my answer.

When I passed the door, I felt the invisible push loosen its hold, and I spun around once mid-air before landing gracefully on my feet. Claps greeted me as I dusted myself up. Looking up, I saw that Ichiro was walking towards me.

"That was magnificent, Lady Chihiro. However, you must watch yourself. Your body is not yet fully healed," Ichiro admonished gently. I dropped my head, remembering my promise to be careful.

"I know and I'm sorry," I apologized as we walked side-by-side back to Haku's suite.

As we were walking, I caught a glimpse of Ichiro's face and was startled to see the mirror image of my usual, devastated expression etched on it. I remembered Yubaba calling Ichiro a "cursed servant." Was the reason for Ichiro's melancholy a curse?

"Ichiro," I called timidly.

"Yes, Lady Chihiro?" Ichiro asked, looking down at me, the sadness on his face masked well.

"I think I need some fresh air. Could we take a short walk outside in the gardens together?" I requested.

"Of course, Lady Chihiro." Ichiro immediately changed course, heading for the elevator without a complaint.

The bathhouse was extremely quiet, which led me to guess that the sun had risen. I was proved right when we exited the bathhouse through a back door that led straight to a dirt path.

I remembered Rin telling me, seven years ago, that most spirits slept from dawn to sunset and was active at night. Only the most powerful and divine spirits, such as Gods and mighty spirits that practiced vast amounts of magic, did not need sleep. This led me to wonder just how powerful my silent companion was.

Before I could come up with a polite way to ask, Ichiro came to a stop. A gasp escaped my lips as I looked around and realized where we were.

Precious memories I had bottled up and seldom allowed myself to remember flooded my mind, and tears I thought had dried up long ago welled up and spilled over before I could hide them. Ichiro went to sit down on the grass as I slowly followed him, sitting down next to him. I remembered that I had been afraid to stain the uniform I had been lent the last time was here, recalling the pain my legs had been in after squatting for such a long time. I cracked a smile at the memory.

The last time I had been here, Haku had been at my side, offering me onigiris that somehow opened the floodgates controlling my tears and let me cry freely. Back then, I had been despairing because I didn't know if I would ever return to my home. I had shed tears for my parents and the hard work I was burdened with. This time, I was shedding tears to empty my burdened, shattered heart.

When my tears stopped, Ichiro quietly queried, "What was it that you wanted to talk about, Lady Chihiro? I know the purpose of this walk was not only to get fresh air."

"You're right," I acquiesced bashfully, wiping away the last of my tears. "I actually wanted to ask you about something Yubaba said right before she forced me out."

"Yes?"

"She said something about you being—cursed," I confided, keeping my eyes on my fidgeting hands. Ichiro stiffened next to me. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry or make you uncomfortable. You don't have to tell me—" I started to get up, but Ichiro's icy, hard, clawed hand stopped me.

"She's right. I am cursed," Ichiro confessed, but did not elaborate.

I was about to get up again when Ichiro sighed, freezing me to the spot.

"I have never told anyone about my life, my curse, and how my idiocy cost the lives of two people I loved and respected. The only one who knows my history and is not in the next world is my master, but I did not need to tell him what had happened for him to know. It will not be a pleasant story. Would you still like to listen?" Ichiro asked, not meeting my eyes, but staring at something only he could see.

"Yes."

"My father was a very wealthy lord. During his life, he got everything he wanted—everything but the woman he loved. You see, my father found a beautiful maiden tied to a tree and on the brink of death one night while strolling in the woods. When she woke up, she told him that she was a water spirit who had been left to die by her mentor when he decided he couldn't take her untamed, explosive, and dangerous bursts of magic anymore. My father carried her to her small domain, a spring, and visited her every night, taking care of her, conversing with her, and falling in love with her.

"However, my father could not marry the dragon spirit. His father would not let a future lord marry a weak spirit. My father was forced to marry the daughter of the lord of a neighboring land. The maiden, in her bitterness, anger, and indescribable sorrow, neglected taking care of her spring, choosing to die with it.

"My father was not aware of the fact that his lover was dying because he was not allowed out of his mansion. But the maiden refused to leave Earth without alerting my father, so she disguised herself as a servant sneaked into the mansion. She was assigned to assist my—my mother.

"When the maiden learned that my mother was pregnant with me, the she was so taken over by terrible anger that she destroyed a part of the mansion and killed everyone in that part of the building, including my mother. Horrified at the sin she had committed, the maiden used the last of her strength and magic to take me out of my mother's body and took me to a powerful dragon goddess who ruled a sacred river next to the village.

"The maiden told the goddess that she was willing to give up what life she had left in her if I could be saved. The maiden's anguish moved the kind goddess, who consented to the exchange. The dragon goddess took the maiden's life and gave it to me, then took me inside her body and managed to save me.

"However, the fact that I was formed as a human but was raised in a dragon led to me becoming half-human and half-dragon. Nevertheless, my mother, the dragon goddess, raised me like her own child, teaching me magic and caring for me like a normal, loving mother.

"I loved my mother, but as I grew up in the spacious cave that my mother's river flowed into, I wished for the company of new people. When I voiced my wishes on my one hundredth birthday, my mother allowed me out of the cave, but warned me to stay close to the cave. I was delighted by the new things I saw, smelled, heard, and felt.

"I was resting on my way back to the cave, leaning on a tree trunk when I heard giggle on the other side of tree. I immediately jumped up and was about to annihilate the poor tree when a beautiful spirit stepped out from behind it. Her smile took my breath away. It was love at first sight.

"From that moment on, I went to visit Haruki every month. Each time we met, though our meetings were very brief, lasting no more than three hours, our love deepened. I was amazed that Haruki wasn't repulsed by that fact that I was only half-spirit, as the few spirits I had met had been. My mother suspected what was happening, but seeing me happy, she didn't put a stop to it, like she could have.

"One day, my mother was tending to a part of her river that had flooded due to a particularly heavy rain. She asked me to stay in the cave that day and practice the new skills she had taught me the day before. However, I had forgotten what skills I was supposed to practice because I had been thinking of Haruki's bright smile during the entire lesson. That day, for the first time in my life, I disobeyed my mother's orders and went to visit Haruki.

"We were locked in a tight embrace, murmuring sweet nothings into each others' ears, when my mother found us. She was furious that I had gone against her orders and neglected my studies. She forbid me to see Haruki until I proved myself to her.

"My mother didn't mention what had happened for a century. On my three-hundredth birthday, when I finally finished two-thirds of my magic studies, I asked my mother for permission to visit Haruki, since it had been almost a century since I had last seen her. She was not feeling well that day, and declined my request. In my anger, I disobeyed her orders and visited Haruki anyway.

"We continued that way for a century—my mother disapproving my relationship with Haruki, and me going against her orders. At the time, my foolish brain did not comprehend why my mother was keeping me from my lover. I misunderstood—having heard about the story of a lord who could not marry a weak spirit because the arrogant father disapproved, I assumed that my mother thought we weren't a good match because Haruki wasn't good enough for me. I did not think about the possibility that she might be trying to keep me at the cave to make sure that I concentrated on my studies so others would not look down on me for being a half-spirit.

"White running an errand for Haruki, I met a spirit with an aura that pulsed with evil, deceit, and maliciousness. I tried to avoid her, but she stopped me by offering to help me meet my lover without any interruptions.

"I thought she could perhaps manipulate my mother into accepting Haruki and my relationship. Though manipulation was not something I wanted done to my mother, it wasn't doing actual physical harm to her. I even deluded myself into thinking the strained relationship between my mother and me would get better once I didn't have to disobey her to meet Haruki. I accepted the spirit's offer without wondering why a spirit like her would offer to help when it would not benefit her in any way.

"When my mother fell ill, I thought nothing of it. It is, to this day, the biggest mistake I've ever made. I could have stopped the poisoning of the river if I had suspected something earlier, but I just assumed it was nothing serious.

"A year passed, during which time my mother's illness got worse. The animals in her river tried to flee before the poison reached them and killed them along with the helpless plants. That was when I remembered the evil spirit who had offered me 'help.' Yet it was too late.

"When my magic training and studies ended, my ill mother told me why she had kept me from Haruki. Now that my studies and training was over, she told me she would love to meet Haruki and apologize for keeping us two apart. I felt like an utter fool, too shamed to tell my mother that I was the reason why she was slowly dying with her river.

"Even so, I wanted my mother to meet Haruki formally. But when I went to visit Haruki, I saw that she was ill as well. Her tree used some water from the poisoned river, which had poisoned her tree. The two most important people in my lives were dying, and I was the one at fault. I was too cowardly to admit what I had done to my mother as she died, her river no longer sacred or 'the source of the cleanest water in all of Japan,' as the villagers had once called it. Likewise, when my Haruki died not long after my mother did, her tree looking nothing like the one where our love had sprouted, I kept my mouth firmly shut, only whispering the words, 'I love you,' as her tree fell and her body became dust.

"I can still recall the utter emptiness, sorrow, bitterness, agony, and burning hatred for myself that I felt that moment. I still feel it, to this day, although it has been three centuries since the day I lost my loved ones. This pain was too overbearing for my weak human body. As my soul shattered into one hundred pieces, my spirit was wrenched from my physical body and transported here.

"Master Haku saved my soul—he detected the disturbance in the air and collected the pieces of my soul before they left me permanently. But the Natural Laws did not allow him to put my soul back together. You see, in the beginning of the world, the Council of Gods who created it wrote the Natural Laws. I had disobeyed one of the laws by assisting a murderer in the death of my benefactors. Being one of the Gods on the Council, Master Haku had no choice but to make me a Slave, even though he knew that my crimes had not been intentional.

"I must serve under Master Haku until the Council deems my service worthy of redemption." Ichiro turned his defeated eyes to me. I could read shame in them—shame for following his heart and doing what he thought would make his loved ones happy.

I stood up, Ichiro's sad eyes following me. Ignoring the surprise in his eyes, I kneeled down and pulled him in for a hug. Ignoring the way he stiffened up as if he had never gotten hugged all his life, I rested my head on his rigid, tense shoulder and murmured, "Love can't be controlled. Even if you had followed your mentor's orders and distanced yourself from the tree spirit, it would only have angered you and killed you inside. The ending would have been no different. It's not your fault, Ichiro. Stop blaming yourself. Let go."

Carefully, as if he thought I would run away if he made one wrong move, I felt Ichiro rest his head on my shoulder. I rubbed gentle circles on his back, tightening my hold around him when I felt my shoulder grow moist.

My heart grew heavier with each tear Ichiro shed as I realized that my ending might be no different from his.

* * *

**Please remember that your reviews are what keeps me updating!**


	7. Chapter 6

**I know it's been a very long time since I last updated. I've been trying to come up with a slightly different plot for this story, enter some authentic Japanese legends, and fix some names of future OC characters. I'm very sorry.**

**Thank you to those who helpfully made some suggestions about Haku's appearance. I took all of them into consideration, and tried to come up with something that would satisfy all of your requests . . .**

**Lastly, a big thank you to my reviewers! I love all of my readers whether they review or not, but reviews help me improve the story and make sure the story is on the right track! Thank you, _AznLee_, _yukishakura_, _SharinganLover_, and _Selena Estella_!**

**Disclaimer: If I did indeed own Spirited Away, I would be world-famous. Since I am not even remotely famous, I think it's safe to assume that I do not own Spirited Away. However, Ryuu and Ichiro are MINE!**

* * *

I leant my head back slightly, letting the light breeze run through my hair. The soft fragrance of cherry blossoms, poppies, tulips, irises, and wisterias tickled my nose as I took a deep breath.

Ichiro and I were trudging back to the bathhouse, both of us too emotionally exhausted from our stroll to speak. Nevertheless, I was glad he had taken me to the garden. I knew I would never have been able to muster the courage to visit it on my own. Besides, Ichiro's treads seemed lighter now that his secret wasn't resting solely on his shoulders anymore.

_Maybe you should try it sometime_, advised a voice in my head I thought I had silenced a while ago. _Nope, still here_, it cackled. I dismissed its advice and turned my attention back to pleasant matters instead.

A smile spread across my face as I gazed at the sky and picked out all of the colors I could name from the paradisiacal blend of colors illuminated by the retiring sun. I'd always known the sky was most exquisite at sunset.

"It's beautiful," Ichiro commented as we crossed the bridge. I answered with a nod.

Sunset was one of the occasional times when I actually felt normal. Something about it turned back the clock and transformed me back to the untroubled ten-year-old girl I once was. Back in the Human World, I used to climb onto the roof of my house at sunset whenever the homesickness and the longing became intolerable and stay up there until the sky was pitch-black, lighted only by the twinkling stars and the glimmering moon. I would think about my friends in the Spirit World, and when my eyes began growing moist, I would tell myself to hold on and persevere just a bit longer. Haku was honorable, righteous, and, most of all, he cared about me. He would come.

Though neither of us said any more, the silence that filled the air wasn't the stifling silence that often permeated my house in the Human World. It made me feel curiously content, filled only by the sounds of our feet tapping on the wooden bridge.

We entered the bathhouse through the back gates just as the bathhouse began to come alive. As the lights were switched on, the noise of workers waking up and greeting each other floated down to us, and I heard the drone of dozens of elevators transporting workers to the baths.

Because we were on the hidden elevator meant specifically for private guests of the occupants of the top floor, there was no need to switch elevators, and the two of us got to the suite without a hassle. When we reached Haku's door, Ichiro rested his hand on the handle and murmured a quiet incantation. The doors swung open.

As he ushered me through, Ichiro said, "Though I am sure Master Haku would not mind if you stayed in his guestroom, there are other rooms that are ready to accommodate you, Lady Chihiro, that you might prefer."

"That would be nice, thank you," I nodded after a second of hesitation. I had to admit that it had been nice staying in Haku's room because it insured a meeting with him the moment he returned, but I didn't want to impose. "Maybe I could use one of the rooms near Haku's?"

Ichiro led me three doors down from Haku's room and opened it. I entered, my jaws dropping in awe of the grand room. Like all of the other rooms in the suite, this room was enveloped in green. A delicate pattern of leaves weaved through the forest green walls, and the canopy of the oversized bed was a shade of light green that relaxed my eyes by just looking at it. Everything else in the room—the furniture, the carpeting, and the decorations—were also a unique shade of green.

When I heard Ichiro clear his throat behind me, I followed him to a paper door in the corner. Ichiro slid it open with a slight rattle, and my jaw dropped again at the sight of the adjoining bathroom.

It was as big as the bedroom—but it wasn't green. A bathtub large enough to swim laps in covered half of the bathroom, while a vanity, a stool, a curtained-off changing area, a sink, and a tall drawer took up the other half. In the far corner was a small room just for the toilet. These were all made of what looked like obsidian or onyx. When I heard a noise akin to the sound of the water of the Niagara Falls pounding against the bedrock, I tore my eyes away from the elaborately embellished vanity to locate the source of the curious noise.

Ichiro was kneeling next to a black rope, watching the water flow into the bathtub. I did a double take at the remarkable speed of the rise of the steaming water and looked around for the source of the water.

Five dragons of different sizes and shapes were perched in different positions on the huge rock that one could use as a diving board to jump into the bathtub. The bathtub itself had strange engravings of letters I couldn't read. As I attempted to decipher the engravings, Ichiro turned off the water with a single pull of the rope. I took a moment to adjust to the sudden quiet and turned to ask Ichiro to leave when I realized he had moved over to the tall drawer.

Ichiro kneeled down next to the drawer, pulling out various bottles. He poured out little measurements of the potions he had picked out into a black bowl. Turning around, Ichiro lamented, "It seems I have forgotten to supply this guest room with the new shipments of gold-enriched potions that arrived this morning. I'm afraid lavender, jasmine, freesia, rose, cherry blossoms, honey, white tea, cinnamon, peach, cucumber, forest, river, Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, and Relaxation are the only options available. I apologize for the lack of variety."

I gaped at him, my mouth hanging open. Gold-enriched potions? And how was two dozen choices "lack of variety"? Forcing my mouth shut, I muttered, "Um, I'll just have Relaxation. Thank you, Ichiro."

Ichiro nodded, turning back towards the stash of beauty products. He dug through the mountain of short and stout bottles in a hidden compartment until he found a white bottle, which he poured into the black bowl. Uncorking a silver bottle as he stood up, Ichiro poured in only five drops and left the rest on the floor. After expertly mixing the contents of the bowl with a strange spoon, he poured everything in the bowl into the colossal tub.

Returning once again to the drawer, Ichiro opened another compartment and pulled out a silk bathrobe and a towel. From a smaller compartment, he found a hair tie and a headband. He stacked them down next to the silver bottle at the rim of the tub before finally turning to face me as a unique scent began to fill the room.

"If you feel the scent is beginning to fade out, you simply need to add a drop of the silver potion to the water. I will leave a set of clothes you can change into after your bath on the bed. Please enjoy your bath," Ichiro bowed and turned to leave, but paused right before he reached the sliding doors. Reaching inside the pocket on the front of his uniform, Ichiro pulled out a very familiar hair band and handed it to me. Seeing the smile on my face as I clutched the little object to my chest, Ichiro explained, "I found it next to Master Haku's bed shortly after you were carried to his room."

"Thank you so much, Ichiro! This hair band means a lot to me. Thank you!" Without thinking, I threw my arms around his rock-hard neck, ignoring the stiffening of his shoulders. I was relieved when he relaxed slightly after the shock of being embraced so unexpectedly passed, although he didn't relax enough to hug me back.

When I let go, Ichiro cleared his throat and mumbled something before leaving hastily. I noticed that his green skin was slightly redder than normal as he slid the door shut with a bit more force than necessary, but shrugged it off and ran my fingers through my hair to get some of the troublesome knots out. I tied my brown tresses in a bun and pulled the stray hairs out of my face with the headband Ichiro had found for me. Shivering slightly, I stripped down and stepped into the steaming water, sighing contentedly. I sat down on the warm stone bench under the surface of the water and let my hands wade around, making tiny ripples on the surface.

As the minutes passed by, I realized that the water wasn't getting any colder. Smiling in approval, I dipped my head in the water for a few seconds before surfacing.

Perhaps it was the "Relaxation" potion in the water, or maybe I was just exhausted. No matter what the reason, I was unable to keep my eyes open for long. I dozed off, perched on the warm stone bench.

* * *

I woke up to the sound of male voices. I instinctively covered myself with my arms before realizing that the men were conversing on the other side of my paper door—I could see their silhouettes through the thin paper. The voices were slightly raised in anger and frustration.

A moment later, I caught the first articulate sentence.

"Ichiro, did I not instruct you to escort her to her world as soon as possible?"

It was not a voice I recognized, but it sounded familiar, which surprised me since I didn't know anyone who spoke in such a forbidding, unfeeling tone. The next voice was easier to identify.

Ichiro did not lose his cool despite the other man's obvious anger and disapproval. "My deepest apologies, Master, but Lady Chihiro has been very upset ever since she regained consciousness, and I did not wish to stress her any further. Also, she voiced her wish to speak to you several times, and so I intended to ask if you would speak with her before asking her to return her world."

I could feel my breathing speeding up as if I had just awoken from one of my nightmares. My heart started beating quickly, and I clutched my chest in fear of it bursting out. I could guess who Ichiro was talking to.

"I do not wish to speak to her. I don't have the time or the energy." My breathing grew ragged and my excitement died like a candle blown away by a gust of wind when I grasped that he didn't want me to stick around. "Besides, Kono-Hana's family is waiting downstairs." The man sighed, and I envisioned him running a tired hand over his face. "It is essential that you instruct her to return to her own world once she comes out of her bath. Make sure she remains unseen."

A second of silence followed the string of orders. "Yes, Master. And what do you wish to become of the human boy?"

"Ah, yes, I almost forgot about the boy. He is in," the man paused, "the boiler room with Rin and Kamaji. Find him, bring him upstairs, do whatever you must to insure that the humans are undetected, and lead them out of this world."

"Yes, Ma—"

Ichiro stopped speaking as I loudly stood up at the rim of the tub and hastily put on the silk robe. I felt kind of dizzy, but I blamed it on the steaming water and standing up too quickly as I wrenched the paper door open, not caring about the holes I ripped in it. A startled Ichiro stared at me as I turned to Haku's retreating back, a hand holding the front of my robe closed.

"Haku!" I called out desperately.

Haku froze, but did not turn around. I approached cautiously, as if he was a wild animal that would run away at any action that caught him off guard. My hand trembled as I reached out, grabbing his broad shoulder gently. A tingling sensation ran up my arm, making me shiver as I spun him around. He obediently turned to face me.

He was much handsomer than I imagined.

In the rare occasions when I would allow myself to indulge in my dear memories of Haku, he was still the twelve-year-old boy I had met. Sometimes, I would let my imagination go wild and come up with different versions of an older Haku, but they never satisfied me, so I would just go back to contentedly remembering the pale, green-eyed boy who always watched over me with his warm, caring eyes.

The tall person in front of me was no twelve-year-old. His curiously green and black hair was slightly longer than before, and it was tied back in a short, stubby ponytail at the middle of his head. His bangs were choppy, straight, and uneven, and it suited him even better than his clean, neat cut. His skin was a shade of ivory that defined his elegant features. Gone was all of his baby fat, and his face was more angular than before. The rest of his facial features—his nose, his lips, his ears, his brows—were like those of a statue of a God, which made sense since he was one.

When I finished etching every feature of his face into my memory, I finally lifted my eyes to meet his jade orbs.

And instantly lost myself in them.

Memories—precious memories that I bottled up in my heart in fear of losing them—flooded me, washing me away with their warmness. The first time we met in his river. The second time we met, seven years later. The time he frightened me by acting as if he hadn't just saved my life, making me wonder if I had just dreamed it up. The time he woke me up to take me to see my parents at the pig pen even though Yubaba would have punished him if she caught him. The time he held me close while I cried out of fear and loneliness. The time I first saw him in his dragon form, flying across the sky. The time I recklessly ran across a rusty pipe in my desperation to make sure he was safe. The time I fell into a dark, bottomless hole because I refused to let go of him. The time I set out to Zeniba's place to clear Haku's name and beg the witch to forgive him een though I was aware that the train wouldn't take me back to the bathhouse. The time I opened Zeniba's door and saw Haku outside, fully healed, waiting to take me back. The time I remembered Haku's true identity. The time we ran across the grassy field, his hand warming my heart despite the dread I felt at having to leave. And, finally, the time my hand slipped out of his, making me feel cold and disconnected.

The old bottled up memories overpowered me—and I couldn't take all of them at once. My head spun, different memories demanding to claim my attention, and I suddenly felt weak and dizzy. As the ground slowly rose up to meet my face, I heard a sharp cry and felt a pair of strong, warm hands wrap around my waist.

"Chihiro! Chihiro, wake up!" Haku yelled, his voice betraying his panic.

I smiled for him, trying to catch his emerald green eyes, as the edges of my vision wavered and blackened.

The moment I locked eyes with his, I fell limp in his arms.

* * *

Something was scratching my nose.

I swatted it away, thinking it was probably just a stupid fly. My eyes snapped open when my hand slapped away something much bigger, warmer, and furrier than a mere fly.

A huge mouse stared back at me, its eyes big, innocent, and annoyed.

"Bou," I groaned, falling back into my pillow as Bou scrambled back up to my face. I opened one eye and laughed at the creature before me, pouting with his tiny arms crossed over his chest.

Scooping him off my neck, I left Bou pouting on my pillow as I sat up, feeling a slight headache. As I stretched, I noticed that someone had dressed me in a soft bathhouse uniform. I blushed when I realized about who must have dressed me.

Bou noticed my cheeks growing warm and prodded me with his tiny paws. When I shook my head, he scowled and scurried to one of the bedposts, sliding down the metal pole. By the time I got out of bed, Bou was in his half-human form, leaning against a bedpost, arms crossed, a smirk on his face.

"It must be true that humans grow frailer as they age. I mean, look at you. You've already fainted twice this week!"

I scowled, walking over to the bathroom to wash my face. "For your information, these past few days have been kind of crazy for me. It's not my fault," I huffed as I wiped my face off with a towel that rivaled Haku's mane in softness.

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry. Well, I must get going. The bathhouse is open, and Mother will be asking for me soon."

"What? The bathhouse is open already?"

Bou turned around, amusement shining in his eyes. "It's midnight, Sen. You've been unconscious for several hours. I'll send Ichiro to get something to eat for you, so just stay in your room and try to rest. I'll see you later!" With a wave, Bou disappeared, shutting the door behind him.

I only had a moment to myself before a knock came at the door. "Come in," I called out.

Balancing four silver trays, Ichiro strode in and set the food down on the table at the corner of the room. When he finished setting the table, he pulled the rich curtains back, unveiling a breathtaking view of the bathhouse's surroundings.

"It's gorgeous." Ignoring a headache that was starting to bother me, I walked to the table without taking my eyes off the clock tower I had spotted, shining like a crown in the far distance. On the opposite side of that clock tower was a world where I was supposed to belong, but never truly did. A world where my parents and Ryuu's parents were probably worrying themselves to death about their missing children, never having returned from their date.

That thought jolted me. How had I forgotten about how our parents must be feeling? What if they thought we had run away? What if they were accusing each other's child for harming the other? I turned to Ichiro, gripping his arm. "Is there any way to send a message to people in the Human World—without notifying Haku?" If Haku found out I was trying to communicate our parents, he would probably use it to convince me to return to the Human World and never let me return. He had certainly made it obvious that he didn't want me here.

However, I absolutely had to let our parents know that we had not run away, and certainly not in danger. Though it had been difficult to be a normal daughter for my parents for the past several years and I did not know Ryuu's parents on a personal level, none of them deserved this. I knew how anxious and hopeless they must be feeling, losing someone they loved, not knowing if they would ever see said loved one ever again. Hoping every day that the loved one would appear and apologize for the worry they caused them, and being utterly disappointed with every day that passed without such an event occurring. I knew that feeling all too well. And I would not stand for anyone else having to experience it.

"There is a way, but it drains much power from the person performing the spell, and only a handful of spirits are capable of it. If you did not want Master Haku performing the spell, the only ones you could ask for help that reside at or near the bathhouse would be Lord Ohoyamatsumi, Mistress Yubaba, or Lady Zeniba."

I couldn't ask Yubaba because she would probably refuse, so I would have to visit Zeniba in the near future. But who was . . . "Lord Ohoyamatsumi?"

"He is a powerful god who rules mountain, sea, and war. He will become Master Haku's father-in-law in the near future."

Father-in-law. Master Haku's father-in-law. Then . . . Haku was . . . he was . . .

"Haku's getting married?" I asked in a low voice, my mouth suddenly dry and refusing to produce any sound louder than a whisper.

"Married?" Ichiro repeated, as if the word was foreign to him. "Ah, you must be referring to the human tradition of bonding two people. Yes, mating is somewhat like a marriage. However, the bond that is formed during a mating ceremony is stronger than any other, even than the bond between mother and offspring," Ichiro explained, watching me warily as my breathing began to get heavy.

Suddenly feeling my knees give out, I collapsed into a chair and gripped the table with all my might. "And when is Haku's mating cermony?" I whispered, barely maintaining a calm voice.

"It will take place in the summer solstice of next year, when Princess Konohanasakyua reaches adulthood. Are you alright, Lady Chihiro?"

Ignoring his question, I asked one of my own. "Princess Konohanasakuya is the bride-to-be?"

"Yes."

I tried to control my expression as my brain struggled to process the new information. "How lovely. I would love to meet her."

"Unfortunately, Lady Chihiro, Princess Konohanasakuya and her family are currently having lunch with Master Haku, and they will be departing immediately afterwards."

"That's fine." I got up, taking a long drink of water. Gently setting the glass down, I turned to Ichiro with a determined glint in my eye. "Please lead me to her right now."

"My apologies, my Lady, but Master Haku specifically orders all bathhouse workers to stay clear when he is meeting with Princess Konohanasakuya's family."

I grabbed my purple hair band from my bed stand. Running my fingers through my hair, I assured, "If Haku gets angry, I'll take the blame. I'll tell him that I forced you to take me to him because that's exactly what I'm going to do." I pulled my hair into a high ponytail as I walked over to the door and turned to see what was keeping Ichiro. When I saw him eying the food on the table, I added, "Don't worry, I'll finish that when I get back. Come on," I urged, walking over to Ichiro's side and tugging on his arm.

We made it out of the suite and onto an elevator in record time. The elevator stopped at a beautifully decorated, silent floor. It didn't seem like anyone was here. But as Ichiro led me down the hall, I picked up several voices.

"Oh, my Nigihayami," a sickly sweet voice giggled, immediately catching my attention, "if you don't want us to know how you broke free of that old hag, just say so. You don't need to invent such a story."

"I do not lie," Haku replied curtly to the voice I realized must belong to his fiancée with a sinking feeling.

"But . . . a human could not possibly have freed you from that witch!"

"She's right, Kohaku. You cannot expect us to believe that inane story of yours," a deep voice grumbled with a chuckle.

"I assure you, Oho-Yama, I am telling the truth," Haku said in a light tone. "If you don't believe me, you can ask the human herself. Come in, Chihiro."

Pausing for a second, I gathered my wits and nodded at Ichiro, who opened the sliding paper doors for me. Haku met my eyes immediately, but the other two richly dressed spirits in the room gawked at me for a while before they composed themselves.

Rolling my eyes at the shocked spirits, I addressed Haku as if they weren't even in the room. "Haku, I need to talk to you."

"As you can see, I am having lunch with some very important guests," Haku reminded me in a cold voice.

I glanced at the gorgeous blue-eyed lady at Haku's side, whose hands, folded demurely in her lap, were twitching most likely with the urge to slap me. "How dare you eavesdrop on our conversation, human? Do you know who my father is? Who I am?" the black-haired lady from the paintings, whom I guessed was Konohanasakuya, demanded with a glare that would have had anyone else cowering away.

But her glare only amused me. I had no reason to feel intimidated by this woman. I had faced spirit gods, monsters, and all sorts of supernatural beings without batting an eye at the age of ten. This woman was nothing compared to all that. "I couldn't care less who all of you are." With a smirk, I addressed Haku once again, "Haku, I have to talk to you, and I'm not going to leave until you do. You know better than anyone how stubborn I can be."

The lady, whose cherry red lips were jutting out in a pout, tugged on Haku's arm until she had his attention. "Nigihayami, that insolent human girl refuses to listen to me. Dismiss her."

To everyone's surprise, Haku barely hesitated before extricating his arm from the lady's and getting up. "Please excuse me for just a moment. I will return shortly." With his head lowered in a bow, Haku signaled Ichiro to close the door with a look. The three of us walked down the hall, Haku in the lead, in absolute silence until we reached the elevators.

"Ichiro, Bou told me earlier that he wishes to have a quick word with you about the management of the restaurants. You will find him in the floor just below this one," Haku ordered without turning around. Ichiro stepped onto an elevator and left with a respectful bow.

Now that Haku and I were alone, I realized I didn't know what I wanted to say first, especially since Haku refused to even look at me. Haku broke the silence first, to my relief, but the words that came out of his mouth were not so pleasing.

"What have you and Ichiro been doing?" he accused, still with his back to me.

"Nothing," I answered honestly.

"Then why do I smell him all over you?"

I could feel blood pooling into my cheeks at those words, and I saw Haku's back stiffen. "Why should you care? I am free to do whatever I want, Haku. You don't control me."

Spinning around unexpectedly, Haku strode over to tower over me. "Ichiro is my servant. I will not allow him to interact with my guests in such indecent ways."

Refusing to back down, I stared into Haku's eyes defiantly. "I understand that Ichiro has made mistakes in his life—he told me everything. But I don't think he had ever done anything to you to earn your distrust. And for your information, Ichiro was simply assisting me, nothing more." When I saw that he was still skeptical, I gave up trying to convince him and changed the subject, brushing aside the way his eyes hardened my action. "Also, I will not let you decide if I stay in this world or not, Haku. If you want me to leave the bathhouse, then I will find somewhere else to stay. Or I'll work. I'm much stronger than I was before."

Haku crossed his arms over his wide chest, raising an eyebrow skeptically. "Then why is your body trembling? I can tell that you are still ill, Chihiro. Return to your room. I will not force you to leave in your condition. The same goes for the boy that accompanied you."

"I'm not leaving. I'm not stupid, Haku—I know you will avoid me if I let you go right now."

That stumped him. I arched a brow smugly as Haku struggled over his words. "I—I give my word that we will talk later. I have matters to settle with my—my future family."

A cold, bitter laugh echoed through the halls at those words. Haku seemed surprised to hear such a cruel sound from me. I understood his shock because I was surprised, too. And _I_ had been aware that I was no longer the innocent, gullible girl who let go of his hand in the grassy field seven years ago. Nonetheless, I refused to back down. "Oh, you give your word? Like you gave your word that you would return for me? I'm not the trusting girl you knew seven years ago, Haku."

That seemed to hit a nerve. Though he tried to conceal it, I saw him wince slightly before he vowed, "I swear upon my mother's life that I will arrange a meeting with you later." I was about to laugh at his words once more, but the sincerity in his gaze stopped me. "Now go and get some rest." These last words were spoken with a tender undertone that caught me off guard, and I allowed him to give me a slight push to the elevator that Ichiro had taken. "Here he comes." Turning on his heels, Haku strode back to the end of the hall, where his soon-to-be father-in-law and his fiancée were waiting.

The moment the paper doors closed behind Haku, the elevator arrived and opened. Ichiro immediately stepped out, and I went to stand next to him. Once we got back on the elevator, I leaned on his erect figure, the remaining rays of strength dissipating. I had gotten to Haku in this manner, too exhausted to keep my body up on my own, which was probably why Haku smelled Ichiro "all over me." I blushed at the indecent mental pictures that must have plagued Haku while I kept defending Ichiro.

When we returned to my room, Ichiro helped me get ready for bed. He brushed my hair, prepared a fragrant basin of water to wash my face with, and found me a small night light. It was only after I refused to let him undress me with a wild blush on my face that he left, bidding me a pleasant night.

After stripping down to the skin-tight, short, navy blue jumpsuit worn under the baggy outer tunic and pants of the bathhouse uniform, I climbed and nestled in the layers of thick sheets. I only had time to note that the eerie flickering green light from the night light resembled Haku's eyes before my eyes shut on their own accord, carrying me off to a different world.

* * *

A loud, obnoxious pounding at the door jostled me awake. Sitting up in bed, I frowned at the offending door, glaring at whoever it was that had the gall to interrupt my first dreamless sleep in years.

"Chihiro, open up!" It was Ryuu's voice.

"It's open!" I yelled back. But as I saw the doorknob twist open, I realized that I was in nothing but a bra, underwear, and a very revealing jumpsuit. "No, wait!" I screamed as I frantically grabbed around for the thick sheets. It was too late.

Ryuu smirked as I finally pulled some green sheets over my chest, the blood rushing to my face. But I had seen his wide eyes rake over my form, his open mouth pulling up in a mischievous smirk, before I was able to cover myself up.

I tried to mask my embarrassment and maintain as much dignity I still had in this situation, sending an impressive glare at Ryuu that would have had any of my classmates in the Human World scurrying out of the room. But my glare only seemed to roll off him. He grabbed a chair from the corner of the room to pull it up to my bed and sit down, his elbows resting on the back of the chair, his face in his hands. I fidgeted, trying to ignore his amused stare.

"Stop staring," I hissed when my patience ran out.

But Ryuu only chuckled. "I've never seen you this disheveled before." His warm brown eyes were dancing; he was genuinely entertained by seeing me panicked and caught off-guard.

With a groan, I ducked beneath the covers, making sure not even a single strand of hair was visible. "Get out!"

There was a moment of silence in the room. Then, Ryuu's loud guffaws filled the room as my cheeks grew even warmer with embarrassment and annoyance.

"What are you doing in Sen's room when she's still in bed?" I blinked at the unexpected new visitor, then breathed a sigh of relief when I realized Lin had just saved me from hours of teasing. "And why are you still in bed, Sen? The sun went down an hour ago!" the austere spirit reprimanded from the door.

I sat up immediately, keeping the sheets at chest-level. "I'll get up right now if . . ." I sent a meaningful look at my friend and raised my eyebrows, tilting my head infinitesimally towards the grinning fool staring at me. Always the sharp one, Lin understood.

"You over there, what are you doing, fooling around in an honored guest's private room when you should be hard at work downstairs? Follow me." After sending me a furtive wink, Lin pinned Ryuu down with a glare, who reluctantly got up from the chair and shuffled over to the door.

At the threshold, he turned and made his unhappiness known by sticking his tongue out at me. I muffled my giggles with the sheets, remembering how he always used to upset me with that gesture when they were younger. He only had time to hiss, "This is all your fault!" before Lin called out, "Quit dawdling!" With a roll of his eyes, he disappeared out the door.

As promised, I climbed out of bed once I was sure Ryuu was not going to return. After freshening up and getting dressed in a new uniform, I went to find a green marble ball to ask Ichiro about breakfast. I was saved the trouble when a knock came at the door.

"Good morning, Lady Chihiro." Ichiro was dressed in the same black kimono, the typical morose expression on his face.

"Good morning."

"I hope you slept well?"

"I did, thank you. The bed was very comfortable."

"Master will be pleased to hear that. Speaking of which, Master would like to know if you are ready to meet with him."

My breathing immediately quickened. "Haku—he's ready to see me?"

"Yes, he asked for you several hours ago, and he has been waiting for you to wake."

I gulped. "Yes—please tell him that I'm ready to see him. Thank you, Ichiro."

With a bow, Ichiro left the room, and I fell to my knees. Taking deep breaths, I tried to tell myself that there was no reason to panic. I had talked to him yesterday. Not for a very long time, but we had still spoken. Why was I so nervous then?

_Because you know you'll finally get the answers to the questions that have been floating around in your pretty little head for the past seven years. And you're scare of what he will tell you_. It was the stupid voice in her head again. Shut up, I snapped at it. But I knew it was right. There would be no interruptions this time. I was going to talk to Haku. And I was finally going to get my answers.

My hand was fisted, raised in the air and ready to knock. But my brain refused to send it the signal that would let my hand move. I had been standing in this position for the past two minutes.

I was about to give into my cowardice, return to my room, and spend the rest of the afternoon cursing at myself when the door suddenly flew open. Beyond it was a small sitting room with pale blue walls, wooden flooring, several teal couches, and two sliding doors, one on the wall opposite from me and another on the wall to my left.

Tentatively, I stepped inside the room, jumping when the door shut behind me with a loud bang. "Haku?"

I heard someone moving behind the door opposite from me. I began to take a step, but a familiar force took hold of me before my foot hit the ground, lifting me several inches off the ground and pulling me forward. The sliding doors opened on their own accord to let me through, and I allowed myself to be pulled into what seemed to be an office. This force was gentler than Yubaba's, and it slackened its grip on me gently and gradually, allowing me to pull away from it on my own and spin a somersault in the air before landing on my feet in a smooth motion.

Dusting myself off, I looked around. I had no trouble spotting Haku behind a huge mahogany desk. His eyes were unguarded and wide with surprise. I raised my eyebrows, and Haku broke our eye contact to put his pen down and organize his papers. When he met my eyes again, they were, once again, cold and distant.

"Take a seat, Chihiro," he offered, gesturing at the dark green chair on the opposite side of his mahogany desk.

I obliged and took a moment to look around his office. It wasn't anything special. Lots of green, blue, and white. There were several couches and a coffee table in one corner, the wall behind his chair was completely made of glass, giving me a nice view of the sea that came and went with the rain. Right now, it didn't look too deep.

Turning my attention back to Haku, I attempted to keep my eyes as empty as Haku's. "How have you been?"

"Fine."

"What have you been doing for these past seven years?" Unintentionally, the words "seven years" came out quite harshly, and Haku avoided my eyes.

"I mastered magic under Zeniba, traveled for some time, and accepted Yubaba's offer of half the bathhouse when she found it impossible to manage it on her own," he answered warily.

I nodded. "Where'd you travel to?"

At this, Haku leaned back in his chair and regarded me with a look of impatience. "As I said earlier, I am a co-owner of the bathhouse, Chihiro. I am a busy man. Please stop asking these unnecessary questions."

Alright, I'll get to the point. "Why are you taking that lady as your mate?"

Haku's cold eyes became icy. "That is none of your business."

"As an old friend, I think I deserve to know."

"You were in the Spirit World for not even a week, Chihiro. That does not make us old friends."

"You saved my life twice, and I saved your life once as well. Doesn't that create some kind of bond between us?"

"During the course of my life, I have saved countless lives. It is my duty as a god. Do not delude yourself into thinking my kindness was caused my anything other than responsibility, Chihiro."

I tried to ignore the pain in my heart and continue to look unaffected, like Haku did, but I couldn't speak my next words above a hoarse whisper. "Is that why you didn't keep your promise?" I didn't miss the slight slump of Haku's shoulder at those words even though his eyes remained impersonal, detached.

"What promise?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Haku. You know which promise."

"You did not keep yours either, Chihiro."

A familiar sting forced me to break our eye contact to clear away the angry tears forming in my eyes. "I didn't look back until I got to the end of the tunnel. Besides, you were going to make me wait for the rest of my life," I accused in a shaky voice.

"I never specified when I would be keeping my promise, but you swore to never look back. I believe, in this situation, you are the one to blame."

"Just answer the question, Haku."

We stared at each other. His green eyes were frosty, aloof, and austere, regarding me as nothing but a normal bathhouse worker, and I suddenly felt out of place—like I didn't deserve to be in this room, in this suite, in Haku's presence as a special guest.

The silence of the room was broken by shrill, air-rending sound from an inky stone perched on a sort of platform on Haku's desk. He immediately broke our eye contact and ran a hand over the stone, a fierce glint in his eyes. A growl escaped his lips. "Xakiba."

"Who's Xakiba?" I asked, perplexed, standing up as Haku got up from his chair and stormed over to his door. At my question, he paused and turned his head to send me a firm look.

"No one you should worry about. However, please stay inside today, Chihiro."

I obstinately crossed my arms across my chest and tilted my chin up. "Tell me who Xakiba is."

For the first time, I saw Haku lose his patience. His eyes glowed slightly, and his hands fisted the material of his tunic, the muscles in his arms jumping. "Just please stay inside, Chihiro. It's for your own good."

"Not until you tell me who this Xakiba is!"

"No!" Haku roared, making me flinch. He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down. "It is not safe for you to know who she is, Chihiro. Please just listen to me."

"No. Don't you trust me, Haku?"

"I do trust you. However, it is my duty to—" Haku was cut short by a disturbance outside.

"Master Noboru! What are you—"

"Master Haku!" The door slid open, and Bou screeched to a stop when he saw that Haku was standing on the other side of it.

"Where is she, Bou?"

"She's in the forest beyond the clock tower, and it looks like she finished brewing the elixir."

"How much stronger is she?"

"According to Yu-Bird, she no longer bears the scars from the last battle, and she is encircled by a small halo of dark power. She was creating a portal when it spotted her, but thankfully she was too engrossed in her work to notice."

"I doubt that. Xakiba knows that the Yu-Bird was watching, and she didn't care. It was a trap. After dealing with Xakiba, we must terminate every portal she created." Haku seemed to finally recall that I was still in the room. His eyes widened, and he cursed under his breath before heading out. As he passed by Ichiro, who was standing quietly off to the side in the sitting room, he barked, "Keep Chihiro inside until I order you otherwise."

"Yes, Master."

Bou exited more politely. He gave me a strained smile and a wave before following Haku out of the room.

"What in the world was that about?" I asked, sighing when Ichiro didn't answer.

"Why won't anybody answer my damn questions?" I screamed in frustration before leaving the room, shutting the heavy door with a loud thud behind me.

* * *

**Questions? Concerns? Compliments? Criticism? I appreciate all of the above and anything else I missed! Please stop by and leave a review! Even a simple word or two helps :)**


End file.
